Blessings of Prayer

  

As I was thinking on what to write about and how hard it is to sometimes think about a topic, something came up. I have truly been blessed because of the Gospel and the encouragement my parents had to teach me and my siblings. I have been a member all my life. My parents joined the church in Guatemala, both were the first ones in their families to join. Since joining the church, they have gone trough trials and tribulations just like everyone of us goes through when we try to follow the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Every since I was little, I remember my parents teaching me principles that would help me later in life. They taught my brothers and I about sharing and loving each other, helping people, having that charity towards other people and being responsible by  making good choices. They taught us how to have faith in Jesus Christ and also being able to follow His example. They taught us to always pray and ask our Heavenly Father for help and strenght, also to give thanks to all that we have. I truly admire and am thankful for my parents for taking the time to raise us by teaching and applying these principles.

About a couple of days ago, I had an experience with a principle that I had been taught since I was little. Prayer is something so powerful and helps us to communicate with God. I think of it as talking to a family member that is really far away and is very costly if you want to visit them everyday. Traveling back and forth to see how they are doing can consume time and be costly for the long run. There is a better way and easier way to communicate with them. We can simply pick up the phone and call them. We can let them know how we are doing and also ask for help, the same can apply to them. They can let you know how they are doing and also ask you for help.

The experience that happen to us was that we were trying to get out of this hill with the car. It had snowed the day before and the road was not looking too good. At first I thought, this is gonna be easy, just push the pedal and the car will climb up the hill. It didn't work, at the beginning the car got half way and just stop and would not continue. I had to go on reverse and go all the way back to start again. We try this for like 5 or 6 times and nothing. I tough to myself, we probably gonna get stuck here forever and not being able to go to the place where we needed to go. I told my companion at that time who was Elder Maloney, to offer up a prayer. He prayed for us to be able to get out of there safely. We started again on our way. Surprisingly I felt like something was pushing us, I continue to push on the pedal until we made it all the way. I truly know that prayer works. I offered a silent prayer thanking my Heavenly Father for helping us that day. As we ask our Heavenly Father to help us, He will help us as long as we ask him and humble ourselves. I can testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that when you pray we get closer to God and He will bless you because of that.



Achieving our Goals!



Have you ever set a goal for that year, like the beggining of the year and you really want to achieve it but by the end of January something happened and you stopped or wasn't able to obtain it?...yep, that has definetly happened to me! Elder Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles, shares some insights that can help us to be able to reach those goals.

"You must cultivate a desire to develop the skill of setting worthy and realistic goals."

We need to realize that the goals we set are not too high or low. For me, I have set goals and now that I think were too high and that's why I was not able to accomplish them. As we think about the goals that we set and push ourselves a little we will be able to accomplish. We need to have the desire as well. One scripture I like about desire is Alma 34:27 "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."

"When you set a goal and commit yourself to the necessary self-discipline to reach that goal, you will eliminate most of the problems in your life. Spend your energies doing those things that will make a difference. We have to have faith. We have to have faith in God. We have to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, how desperately we have to have faith in ourselves."

As we follow Elder Ballards's invitation, I can promise you that through Christ all things are possible and that we will be able to reach any goal that we set.



Abinadi: No effort wasted!

Today I was reading in the Book of Mormon and there was something that struck me a lot. I have read over this story a couple of times but this time I really grasp the meaning and the sacrifices that Abinadi had done. This is found in the Chapters of Mosiah from 11 to 17. Basically there was a king named Noah who did not walk in righteousness. He reverses many laws and changes a lot of things from the time he became king. The people also fallow what the king does. But there was a person Abinadi commanded to go and tell the king to repent and to leave those wicked things behind. He teaches them about the ten commandments because the priests said they followed them but they were hypocrites because of the things they were doing. He also tells them of the Savior Jesus Christ who was going to come to this earth and atone for our sins. He says "For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished." Mosiah 15:19.

He also tells them about the resurrection and other doctrines. But the king did not want to listen and also his priest. They told him if he recalls the words which he had said unto them they would let him free. Abinadi never reacalled what he had said because he had faith and knew they were true. So they decided to burn him. But we see that the power of God is greater than any other power. He was put to death by fire but even as he was being burn he testify and then He died. As Abinadi was a strong believer and did not know if he made an impact in any of the lives of others who he testify about Jesus Christ indeed he did change the life of one person, Alma. Now Alma was a priest and he believed in the words of Abinadi. The courage that Abinadi had he was able to help one soul, Alma, and then many people came into the knowledge of the Savior and about his gospel. He was a great missionary and brought many souls unto Christ.

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Every six months the leaders from the church especially the Prophet and the Apostles address us not only to the people here in the US but throughout the World!! This is something we, as members, wait patiently because we receive instruction and guidance from God through his servants. All of the talks were great and my invitation to you is to be able to listen to them again as I know and you can know also that they are truly men of God.

Here is a link:
Watch or Listen to General Conference.  

Picture above are words used in General Conference. Frequency of words determine the size.

Valuable Promises from the Book of Mormon

As I was reading about the Ensign that came out for the month of October which emphasizes on The Book of Mormon I had a thought. Something came to my mind to write a Blog for the messages that are shared there. Well a background about the magazine Ensign is that it's published every month and what's neat about it is that the General authorities shared messages that I find very interesting. Also it's divided into sections for Adults, Teenagers and children, this means that EVERYONE can read it. 

This month's issue is a special one and talks about The Book of Mormon. The first message is about the promises that are in the Book of Mormon. I recently had a friend who passed away and she was very young. I can't imagine the feelings and the sorrow that her family is going through. But there's a reassurance that we will be able to see them again and The Book of Mormon talks about that. In the 40th chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon, it says the following:

              "Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, ...are taken home to that God who gave them life.
         "And... the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called     paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow" (Alma 40:11-12).

We find that through the Book of Mormon, many doctrines and teachings, helps us clarify some of the questions that we have. Also other promises are of peace, freedom and blessings as long as we "wil but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ" (Ether 2:12).

Also a promise of "never-ending happiness" to "those that keep the commandments of God. This is something that I think about a lot. As we are faithful in doing all we can do, we will be able to enjoy that happiness that will last forever. "For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual" (Mosiah 2:41).

Another great promise is as we pray unto the Father in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, our families and loved ones will be blessed (see 3 Nephi 18:21). This is something very important because my family means everything to me. They are central to my happiness and I always want the best for them.

And from the pages of the Book of Mormon, a great promise comes from Moroni who was the last prophet. Through prayer, real intent, and faith in Christ, we man know the truth of these promises "by the poer of the Holy Ghost" (see Moroni 10:4-5).

I know truly that the Book of Mormon is true and you can gain a testimony of it by reading, pondering it, then asking God in the name of Jesus Christ. Through the teachings we can feel and get closer to God who is our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.  

     

Forgiveness: Our burdens will be lighter

As humans we often have the tendency of have different kinds of feelings. Because this is the way God created us and we will often experience them through out our lives. We all struggle with different things in our lives. Hatred towards someone or being hurt by things people say can be like an arrow going through our chest. Since we are not perfect we sometimes hold things towards others and is difficult to let these kinds of feelings go away. In Doctrine and Covenants we read the following; "“I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10). It's never too late to forgive others. Comfort and sweet peace will come to us as we forgive those people who have hurt us.

Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the twelve apostles says the following; "You may be carrying a heavy burden of feeling injured by another who has seriously offended you. Your response to that offense may have distorted your understanding so that you feel justified in waiting for that individual to ask forgiveness so that the pain can leave." I know that this is not easy and that we need to start soon because it will eat us alive if we don't take the time to forgive others. We can ask our Heavenly Father to help be able to forgive other. He will give us the strength we need to overcome and be able to forgive others.

I know that the Book of Mormon is True.

About two weeks ago I finish reading the Book of Mormon. I had read it before but this time I understood it more and I gained a better testimony of it. I know truly with all my heart that it's true and that it is the word of God. So what's a testimony? A testimony is what you believe to be true. For me a testimony are the things I know for myself to be true. For example I have a testimony that the prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon were inspired and were guided by the God to write the things they did. We can all gain testimonies which help us continue to strive to do good and to endure till the end.

A prophet in the book of Mormon explained more about testimonies. Alma 30:41, he says "But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that these things are true?" We can strive to be able to believe and to know these things for ourselves. As I have come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, You can also know it for yourself. The last prophet of the Book of Mormon, he gives a promised to those people who read.

He says the following in Moroni 10:3-5, "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ as the Bible is as well. They both testify that He is the Christ and our Lord and our Redeemer. He truly loves us and has given us scriptures so we can learn more about Him and his teachings. As we understand and read the Book of Mormon, I promised that we can know that He is there for us and that he still communicates with us. We will gain a greater love for him and for all that he has done for us.