Think On These Things: Helaman 5

I'm not sure I ever thought I'd post on this blog again.

Time flies; things change. It's now been over two years since I was released as a missionary. While I've kept learning and growing and trying to help others where I can, I haven't really felt the need to publish these escapades in blog form.

Until now.

See, I've been thinking a lot about the Book of Mormon recently. After reading it through a few times after my mission, more recently I've started just studying certain chapters or stories individually, giving me more time to focus on them and think about them. Doing so has reminded me of experiences I had with the book during my mission, and it's prompted new, similar experiences now. And suddenly it felt like I needed to write about them again.

I can't claim that these insights and thoughts are going to be original or novel or even something you've never thought of before. Like my journal writing, I find that I'm writing these more for myself than for anyone out there. But, if you read it and find something new or something you like, then I'll be glad to have helped out a little.

So, let's begin, shall we?

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Today's topic: Helaman 5. Most people probably know this chapter because of a widely-quoted scripture contained therein, namely verse 12:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Previously, I'd appreciated this scripture on its own merits, seeking for ways I could build my own foundation in order to withstand whatever fiery darts might come my way. However, since then I've come to see how it relates more personally to the men described in this chapter, and how the entire chapter of Helaman 5 itself can be seen as a demonstration of this powerful verse.

Let's step back a bit for some context: this verse was spoken by Helaman (son of Helaman, son of Alma, son of Alma, son of hey why don't you just look at this chart instead and come back when you have the people straight) to his sons, Nephi and Lehi. Helaman gave them this counsel right before they left to start declaring God's word for the rest of their lives. They were so disheartened by what they saw going on around them that they dedicated their lives to preaching God's commandments, and the chapter notes that they remembered this specific counsel (and the other counsel Helaman gave them) as they started.

So, how did they do as lifelong missionaries?

Pretty well, it turns out.

Verses 14-16 lay out their gameplan: they start out in the Nephite city of Bountiful, then make a broad sweep of the major Nephite cities before heading into Lamanite territory. Both demographics (Nephites and Lamanites) represented a significant challenge: the Lamanites at this time were at their usual standard of spiritual ignorance and anti-Nephite sentiments. The Nephites weren't necessarily hostile to Nephi and Lehi (their own people), but teaching them entailed a different challenge: rather than being ignorant to the church, many of these people were previous believers that had since abandoned the church and its teachings and were knowingly breaking commandments. An earlier account of a similar group of Nephites (Alma 47:36) notes that in turning from their knowledge, they actually become more hardened and anti-church than the Lamanites ever were.

So, Nephi and Lehi had their work cut out for them.

And yet, they were not dismayed by these challenges, rather, they seemed to face them head-on. Verses 17 and 18 of Helaman 5 describe how Nephi and Lehi taught with power, and how that power led to the conversion of many people. How many exactly? Well, among the Nephites, we don't know exactly; the record just states that they convinced "many" of the dissenters of the error of their ways. That's a little dissatisfying to read (we crave exact details), but frankly, given the previous descriptions of these former believers, it seems to me at least slightly miraculous that they converted any of them at all.

As for the Lamanites, we have a much more concrete figure. Verse 19 says that Nephi and Lehi's teaching convinced 8,000 of the Lamanites living in the land of Zarahemla (which until recently had been Nephite territory) to repent, be baptized, and join the church.

8,000 people. That's nearly three times the population of my hometown. On a whim, I googled "8,000 people" and found a bunch of pictures that represented that amount. Take a look at those pictures for a minute, then consider that two men influenced that many people to make major life changes just by speaking to them.

Power indeed.

Now things start getting interesting.

Perhaps emboldened by their successes among the Nephites and the Lamanites, verse 20 notes that Nephi and Lehi set out for the city of Nephi, the Lamanite capital, as their next stop on their let's-teach-and-baptize-everybody tour. They didn't make it far, though, before they were captured by an army of Lamanties and thrown into prison near Nephi.

Let's think about this for a second: an army of Lamanites picked them up and took them back to the capital.

Do armies generally wander about the land and just capture whoever they may find in their path? No, so this army had a purpose (otherwise I'm not sure it'd be called an army).

Do armies with orders to attack a specific city make random detours back to where they came from just to deliver two guys they found along the way? No.

Do you see what I'm getting at here? The fact that the army found Nephi and Lehi wasn't coincidental: the king of the Lamanites sent an army to capture them. An army. That's how impressive Nephi and Lehi's reputation was. That is how powerful their preaching was: the king of a nation commanded his army to apprehend them before they could speak to any more of his subjects.

Going on, verse 22 says that Nephi and Lehi were kept in the prison for many days and were deprived of food during that time. Eventually, a group of prison guards was sent into the cell to kill them. Now, this begs the question: if the plan all along was just to kill Nephi and Lehi, why didn't the army just do it when they first encountered the brothers outside of Zarahemla? There's no official word on this, but I think the Lamanite's actions are telling. They only attempted to kill Nephi and Lehi after they had been starving in a prison cell for who knows how long; I think it's entirely possible that the army didn't try to kill Nephi and Lehi because the soldiers didn't believe they could.

Now that I've spent all of this time outlining how powerful Nephi and Lehi seemed to the people of their day and what miracles they brought about, it's time to burst the bubble: they were just men. Humble, righteous men? Definitely. Eloquent, thoughtful men? Entirely possible. Men blessed with the power of God to aid them in their labors? Certainly, but in the end, for all intents and purposes, they remained normal, mortal men.

So now let's consider what they might have been thinking at the point of verse 22. They only recently abandoned all other temporal pursuits so that they could preach the gospel to strangers, strangers who often did not have the kindest feelings toward them. Despite this, they had success, and quite a lot of it, due to their hard work and the power of God working through them. Maybe they allowed themselves to feel hopeful about the future. Maybe they thought that, if things kept going like this, they might not have to spend their entire lives preaching after all.

But then things went south, and they went there quite quickly. A hostile army accosted them and threw them into prison. They were kept in that prison cell for days, without food. Seeing as how they were mortal men, this made them weak. And then, after days of this torment, a group of guards enters their cell, with the intent to kill them. The brothers, despite their hunger and weakness, rise and stand to face their captors.

Did they hope for a miraculous deliverance like that given to Alma and Amulek so many years before?

Or did they resign themselves to their fate, knowing that, as Alma once said, the Lord sometimes allows the righteous to be slain so that his judgement can fall upon the wicked?

I see the guards start to advance. The moment of the brothers' doom seems to have arrived. I see them closing their eyes, thinking back to the words of their father:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

The devil had sent his shafts and the winds to propel them forward. He had sent his thunderous storms filled with devastating hail. He had sent opposition. He had sent people to denounce them and capture them and starve them and finally to kill them.

But Nephi and Lehi didn't fall.

A pillar of fire surrounded the brothers, driving back the Lamanite guards but leaving those enclosed by it intact. That this divine protection was unexpected is apparent from verse 24; it notes that upon seeing the pillar of fire surrounding them but not consuming them, Nephi and Lehi took courage. Thus emboldened, they began to preach again, and this time their preaching led to a powerful spiritual experience for the guards who came to kill them. All of them went forth and preached after this experience, leading to a massive conversion across the entire land. This conversion, in turn, led the Lamanites to return land that they had taken from the Nephites earlier, something the Nephites had failed to accomplish through military might and force of will.

To bring this about, Nephi and Lehi listened to their father. They build themselves upon a strong foundation. The devil came and threw all he had at them, but in the end they did not fall.

And that's what I think about when I read Helaman 5.

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And that's about how these posts are going to go. Not all of the stories I have in mind are as self-contained as Helaman 5, so there will be a few differences moving forward. Some stories might be told over multiple posts. Some posts might examine the same story from multiple angles.

I have a few more ideas, a few more ideas I'd like to share. We'll see how things go after that.

Have a wonderful week, everybody. Take care of each other. Keep Moving Forward.

-Jesse

Keep on Keepin' On

When you can't seem to tell what's right or what's true
Just keep on keepin' on.

When the sky's stuck grey when you wish it'd be blue,
Just keep on keepin' on.

When there's trials and pain and sorrow, too,
When you don't understand what's happenin' to you,
When you're stuck in a rut and don't know what to do,
Just keep on keepin' on.

Just keep on keepin' on.

--- --- ---

When you're stressed and you're tired and you feel nearly dead,
Just keep on keepin' on.

When it takes all your strength just to get out of bed,
Just keep on keepin' on.

When you just can't forget something wrong that you said,
When mistakes from the past keep you stuck in your head,
When you feel that your life's hangin' on by a thread,
Just keep on keepin' on.

Just keep on keepin' on.

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We can't always say why we trip and we fall
When we're doing all we can.

We just trust there's a reason and a time and a season
And it's part of a bigger plan.

So we brush ourselves off, stretch out, and look up
And we find the strength to stand

When we see Him standing right by our side
And we take hold of His hand.

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So we get back on our feet and we try to stand tall
And keep on keepin' on.

We know He'll be there every time that we call
While we keep on keepin' on.

He's our Heavenly Father, and He loves us all
From the great and the big to the humble and small
And he comes when he knows our back's to the wall

And the only thing He asks, at the end of it all,

Is that we keep on keepin' on.

We keep on keepin' on.

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A little ditty I composed as I sat at the computer on a rather dreary day. In succession, two appointments had cancelled on us, and it was looking like the third one we'd planned was headed the same way. I was a little blue, you could say.

As I sat there, though, a little melody started playing through my head. It didn't have any words, at first, but as I listened to it, the lyrics started coming, based on the motto of my trusty companion, Elder Jensen:

Keep on Keepin' on.

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I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He lets us go through the hard times because that's what makes us grow, what makes us better. And I know that He's always there when we find ourselves (literally or figuratively) sprawled out on the ground, wondering what's happened and how we'll ever get back up.

I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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New Year, New Look! I wish I'd been able to post sooner. I've been blessed with a new tool to use in the missionary work (there's a picture of it below!), and it makes it so I tend to not be sitting in front of a computer quite as much. But, whenever I get the chance, I still like to blog a bit.

Have a great week!

Proof that Elder Richmond can even look like a doofus when holding the latest in Apple technology.
Photo Courtesy of President and Sister Craig.

Why I'm Here (Part 2)

Happy New Year!

So, recently, we've been looking to answer a certain question: Why Am I Here? As we discussed in the last entry, part of the answer deals with why there's missionaries at all and what we're doing. But, there's a more personal aspect as well.

Let me explain a bit, using my own experiences. Having grown up in the church, all my life I'd heard about missions and missionary work. I heard that it was a Priesthood duty; I heard many people call it "the best two years" of their life. I also heard them say that it was very, very difficult.

As time went on and the time to go on a mission drew nearer and nearer, I found myself asking myself if I really wanted to serve or not. And, I found I did, but my reason wasn't too personal. I wanted to serve a mission because I felt it would be the right thing to do, what was expected of me. So, I made the necessary preparations and started my mission on June 27th, 2012.

Then, in my first few weeks of missionary training, I found out for myself something that I'd heard all my life: missionary work is hard. It was hard in ways I'd never anticipated. I found very quickly that if my reason for doing the work was just that I felt it was the right thing to do, I wasn't going to last very long. The work needed more from me than that.

So, a big part of my mission became finding a personal reason for keeping myself engaged and doing the work. I needed a motivation that would keep me going, no matter how difficult things got.

I needed to know Why I'm Here.

I prayed a lot for this reason. And, as usually happens with answers to prayers, the reason came, but not exactly when I wanted it to. I didn't find it in the Missionary Training Center; I kept searching and pondering as I entered the mission field and began the process of actually trying to bring souls to Christ. It was hard, but I kept going. And, after about two months, I found an answer.

It came after a rather hard blow to my determination to keep serving. We'd been invited to attend a "Welcome Home" get-together for a member of the Church that had just finished his mission. As I looked at all of the pictures of his mission, then saw him happy with his family, it seemed to suck the energy out of me. I still had about 20 months of service left, and at that moment they seemed to stretch endlessly in front of me. I didn't know how I was going to do it.

Later on that night, I discussed how I was feeling with my Trainer, Elder Jones. To my surprise, he couldn't really understand where I was coming from. Elder Jones was coming to the end of his mission, but, unlike many other missionaries, he wasn't thinking about returning home at all. He explained that, as he saw it, he had been called to Florida (originally Georgia) because there were people here that needed his help. And, he wasn't going to stop looking for those people until the day he was released as a missionary. That was his drive.

I was thinking about what he'd told me as I went to bed that night. I had a dream that I was in a party, similar to the one I'd attended earlier that day. In the dream, there was an open window, and a woman was yelling something outside. Suddenly, I woke up and found that it wasn't just a dream; there really was a woman standing below our apartment window and trying to yell something up to us. She was saying the same thing over and over again, but I couldn't make it out. It sounded like she was calling out someone named Lauren.
After a while, she changed up the line, and started calling herself something not very decent (it was 4:15 a.m., and it was pretty obvious that she was drunk). Soon after, it sounded like one of her friends came to calm her down. The yelling stopped, and Elder Jones and I got back to sleeping.\

In the morning, I discussed what had happened with Elder Jones. I mentioned that I hadn't understood what she saying.

"Was she calling out to someone named Lauren or something?"

Elder Jones shook his head.

"No. She was saying 'mormons.' She was yelling 'Save me, mormons!' over and over again."

Save me, mormons.

The words echoed again and again in my head.

Save me, mormons.

She didn't sound mocking or rude; in spite of likely being intoxicated, she sounded sincere.

Save me, mormons.

She knew who we were (Elder Jones suspected she was a fellow tenant he'd talked to before).

Save me, mormons.

She believed we could save her.

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And that is how I came to discover Why I'm Here. After that day, I realized that there were countless other people in the world like that woman, crying out for help. And we have exactly what they need.

As Church President Ezra Taft Benson put it:

 “We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 167). (As quoted in Preach My Gospel, Chapter 1)

Since I've come on my mission, numerous people have stated that, what with my thick, black glasses and my suit and tie, I look awfully like Clark Kent. And, as I think about it, I realize that I have something else in common with him:

I'm Here to Save the World.

I can't do it all by myself. Luckily, I stand shoulder to shoulder with a force of 80,000 other missionaries. That may seem small compared to a world of approximately 7 billion people, but that doesn't daunt me at all. As Joseph Smith, the first prophet, prophesied (at a time when there were even fewer members of our church):

 "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; … the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." (Joseph Smith, as quoted in "The Standard of Truth Has Been Erected" by Boyd K. Packer)

I testify that God loves us and that He has restored His church and His Gospel to this earth. I also testify that this Gospel has the power to save all of us from our sorrows and our sins. I know that what I'm teaching is true, and I know that it can help everyone. And that is Why I'm Here.

Until next time,

-Elder Richmond

Photo Courtesy of LDS.org

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