Hello everyone,
I am still alive and well, and I haven't forgotten how to read either, in case anyone was wondering if they should still write me. I'm just wondering if the outside world exists, with very little mail or emails, it's hard to say.
I am still alive and well, and I haven't forgotten how to read either, in case anyone was wondering if they should still write me. I'm just wondering if the outside world exists, with very little mail or emails, it's hard to say.
Anyway, this week was another one that flew by as they all seem to do. We went on exchanges and I was with Hermana Cadd (from the MTC) which was awesome. She helped my troubled soul. I love her a lot. Wednesday we get to preview the movie "Meet the Mormons" everyone should go see it, if for no other reason then all proceeds go to charity. I LOVED women's conference. I love that we have been blessed with living prophets and apostles, just as in biblical times. We had awesome experiences this week. We met a Filipino exmonk and he told us all about his experience. It's crazy. We met a women that is incredibly prepared. (I mean so prepared that she has a daughter on a Mormon mission in Peru, who sent her a Book of Mormon) but she has never had the opportunity to meet with missionaries before. And she is going to feed us delicious food every Sunday. We are Tinga. Basically the bomb.
This week I have been thinking a lot about the basics. The praying and reading and going to church. The things we all know we are suppose to do, but somehow just don't. And when we don't, well sooner or later we fall. It's like the Good, Better, Best thing.
When we aren't reading our scriptures as we should we are lowering our expectations for ourself and by so doing and pointing ourself downwards instead of upwards. We need to be reading our scriptures every day, even if only for a little bit so we can't point ourselves upward. The scriptures shouldn't be something we turn to when we have no other options or we are feeling a need, they should be what we turn to very first. Because that is putting God first. We expect that we will be fine, and everyone will be fine, or children will be fine, our testimonies will be fine, but in absolute truth, there is no base for a testimony without the study Book of Mormon. Without the Book of Mormon, lighting strikes, and we are wondering around outside, unprepared. I have seen it in my own life. I never read the scriptures growing up, and I was struck by lightening or so to speak. Everything will not be fine without a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon. And if we say we have a testimony and we know the book is the world of God, and yadda yadda, why are we not reading it? Parents can't raise righteous children who will inherit celestial glory without the Book of Mormon, which faces those children to the celestial kingdom. We can not be strong enough to resist the temptations of the adversary without the Book of Mormon, which teaches us the temptations and how to be strong against them. The Book of Mormon is safety for the soul, and now more than ever we need that. I invite you to make studying the Book of Mormon a regular part of your life, and your families life.
Going to church as well. Are we anxiously engaged in church? Are we doing all we can, or is church taking the back seat. If we really trust in God, and if we really have faith in Him, then we will put all unnecessary Sunday activities on the alter of sacrifice, and we will give our whole heart and soul to The Lord, and put Him and His kingdom first. This is the problem, when we put our own stuff first, whatever it may be, when we let it get in the way of what we should be doing it is because we are in the mindset of "....he will justify in committing a little sin; yea.....there is no harm in this;.....and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God" (2 Nephi 28:8). In verse 15 is the Lord's response to people with this kind of opinion. I will let you look it up. But basically He doesn't like that. Church is essential. It keeps us strong, it keeps us on the path. If you struggle with a decision think to yourself, Good, Better, Best. What is the very best? Because the terrestrial kingdom is full of good people doing good things, but those who make it to the celestial kingdom, where families can be together forever are good people, doing the best things. I remember once when I was younger, it was Sunday morning, and my mom couldn't find her keys, and we searched and we searched and we couldn't find them. And in my head I was basically like 'well sweet, we're not going, I can go back to sleep' (church was at 9), but then my mom says, "well, let's go, we're walking to church" and me being me, and younger at that, immediately was like "yeah, good one, do you know how far that is?" (It was probably like a mile and a half away). Anyway, I got an attitude, we were already late, and she wanted to walk all us kids to church.....crazy talk, by the time we would have got there, we would have had to walk back. So anyway this went on for a little bit, this back and forth between me and my mom, and then finally my mom said, kind of in defeat, something I will never forget, it still sounds in my ears today when I have hard decisions or sacrifices I must make, she said, "Sometimes we just can't let Satan win". This is my plea to all of you. Don't let satan win. No matter the trial or choice. He is the destroyer of your soul and he leads you carefully down to hell, "And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well [or in other words, I am doing mostly what I should, and I am fine]—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." Go to church.
Pray fervently. Prayer is an opportunity to speak to God. What an enormous blessing in our lives. Just pray. I can't even say more. Never forget to pray.
The good news is the atonement is real, and we can always change. Tomorrow is a new day and we can wake up and do the things we need to do. I love my Savior so much. I know without any doubt or question that He is always there waiting to forgive and open his arms of mercy to us. No matter how big or small we consider the sin. Repentance is the way, and it fills us with perfect love, and with hope and inner peace. We receive greater guidance and more help. To finish, I read an awesome talk this morning, this is a part from it.
"Before leaving the Savior’s visit to the Nephites, we may learn another important lesson by examining the next event. In the 14th verse of 3 Nephi 11, Jesus invited the multitude to arise and approach Him one by one, to thrust their hands into His side and feel the print of the nails in His hands and feet. Remember, there were 2,500 people. How long would it take for each person to approach the Savior, feel the print of the nails, touch His side, and perhaps receive a brief embrace? Suppose it took 15 seconds per person. The time required would exceed 10 hours for the multitude to fulfill the invitation.
Why did Jesus do it one by one? Would it not have been just as effective for Him to show the multitude all at once? The answer is no! Salvation is an individual process. Ordinances are conducted one by one. Every individual’s faith counts.
Can you imagine the extraordinary feelings you would have felt had you been there that day? Suppose you were invited to approach the Savior, feel the wounds in His hands and feet, touch His side, and hear Him quietly say how much He loves you. That would be a spiritually transforming experience.
The invitation extended to the righteous Nephites was unusual in that the resurrected Christ was physically present. And yet each person today also has an invitation to “come unto Christ” (Moro. 10:32), to become His sons and daughters through a spiritual rebirth. In a different way, we may feel the print of the nails in His hands and feet and thrust our hand into His side by experiencing the cleansing and refining power of the Atonement. The Savior knows each of us intimately through His experience in the garden and on the cross. Alma states that He took upon Himself our pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, and infirmities, that He might know how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has pointed out that the word succor in old French means literally “to run to.” He suggested that “even as [Christ] calls us to come to him … , he is unfailingly running to help us.” 2
When you believe in Christ strongly enough to believe that He knows and cares about you and will respond to your prayers and needs, you will lay hold on the good." (Becoming a Disciple of Christ by Elder Merrill J. Bateman)
Well I always love you. I am always praying for you. Really, truly, and diligently fight the good fight.
Love,
Hermana Simmons
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