Helping Out a Friend...

One of the most important things I've learned this semester is that Christ and Heavenly Father love us more than we could ever imagine. I have a friend back home in California who has been having a very hard time lately. She's been feeling very poorly about herself, and I can only tell her the same thing so many times about how she's not worthless and that there is someone for her out in the world, she just hasn't found him yet. I decided to share with her that I know God loves us. Here is the message I sent her on Facebook:

"Hello Darling,

As a part of my Book of Mormon class this semester we have to do a weekly project; one of the things I can do is share what I've learned to someone, and I'd like to share with you one of the most important things I've ever learned: that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father truly love us.

I know you're not Mormon, but I think that this is something all Christians everywhere can come to know for themselves. My entire life I'd been told this fact, but I'd never really realized it for myself until this past semester of school in my Book of Mormon class. In a lot of the chapters that we read, there were many wars and contentions between the people of the Book of Mormon, and the people would often become prideful and be punished by God. However, once they began to repent of their sins and become humble, God would forgive them and bring them back into His good graces. When reading something about this in one of the chapters for reading one night, I almost cried when I realized the amount of love that our Savior and Heavenly Father have for us. Almost no matter what we do, we can be forgiven of our sins because of the immense love and patience of Christ and Heavenly Father.

Now I'm not saying that you're a sinner who needs to repent of her sins; but if God can love such a wicked people, and I assure you, they were very wicked, then I know that He loves you. You are going through trying times right now, and you feel very alone and forlorn, but please, please always remember that no matter how alone you may feel, you are never alone, not for one second. Christ is always there to take your burdens upon Himself, as Heavenly Father is always there to listen to your prayers. Although they may not be answered right away, I promise you that prayers are answered, for I have had my own answered throughout my life. Patience is all that is required, for the Lord will answer them in His own due time. If God can have so much patience with a wicked people and yet love them so much to forgive them almost immediately after they return to Him, then we should have patience in waiting for our prayers to be answered. It can be hard, and I know you are having a hard time right now, but I promise, stay diligent in your prayers, and God will hear them and answer them; He may not always answer them in the way that we want, but He will.

I hope you don't feel like I'm being preachy; I just thought that you could really use hearing this message right now. I know that God loves you, more than I or any person on this earth could ever love you, for you are one of His daughters; so you know that's a lot, because you know how much I love you. Just remember Him in your darkest hour, for He is always thinking of you. Christ is always ready to hear your problems, and talking to Him is free. Turn to Him before anyone else, even me, but know that if after talking to Him you still would like to talk to me that you can call me day or night.

You are a fantastic person, Kailee Noel Smith. You are a fierce and loyal friend, and a caring and fabulous person. Don't let anyone ever tell you any different. I'm sorry I won't be home this summer, because I won't be able to be there for you, at least not in body, but know that I am only a phone call or a Facebook message away. Please remember the love that your friends and God have for you, and may it be a comfort for you in these hard times you're going through.

Love always, your friend and companion,

Jori"

I am really hoping that this comforts her and helps her. She is a fantastic person, but she has had a very hard lot in life. She has felt very bad about herself a lot, which is sad because she is a fantastic person. This was also a chance to bare my testimony about how I know God loves us, and I am not usually one to bare my testimony, so this was a good opportunity for me as well as for her to hear a little about the gospel. I just hope that she appreciates this, and listens to the advice that I gave her, for it can only help. It might even convince her to look into the church a little more; a couple of years ago she told me that she was considering becoming LDS, but it never panned out. Maybe this will be the spark that gets her interested again. For now, I can only wait for her response and see what will happen; I hope that I will be able to help her in whatever she may need. I also hope that my testimony will continue to grow this summer while I am here in Utah, and that I will always remember what I have told her tonight.

What Christ has done for me

In Ether 1-9, we see the many things that the Lord did for the brother of Jared and his family and friends, and also for those who were righteous, or those that repented and came unto Him. Even when the people were caught up in secret combinations, when they repented the Lord still bestowed His mercy upon them. We are not nearly so wicked as this, so why is it that people can't repent, or feel that they can't for lesser sins? Granted, just because they are lesser doesn't mean that they shouldn't repent, but people are sometimes too hard on themselves. The Lord has already paid the price for our sins so that we don't have to; we have only to access the magnificent power of Christ's atonement and repent of our sins so that we may live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. If the people in the secret combinations could be forgiven, then why can't we? They killed prophets and kings for personal glory and satisfaction, yet when they humbled themselves before the Lord, He was gracious to them. This is not the first week where I have seen the great love that the Lord has for us. He wants us to live with Him again so much, and we should want to be with Him too. I think that this class, by making me actually read my scriptures, has brought some things into light that I've never really thought of before. These chapters are a testament of Him because they shows many examples of His love and mercy, the very things that the Bible also outlines. Both works are consistent with each other in every aspect, so how could the Bible be true and the Book of Mormon not be true? It just can't happen like that. Either they are both true, or neither of them are. I am grateful for this class, for I have found things in the scriptures that I have never reaized before. I feel my Savior's love for me in these scriptures, and I hope that everyone else that reads them can too.

Project #7

I interviewed Rhiannon Merril about what she has been learning in Book of Mormon this semester. She said she's seen a lot of the pride cycle, and how dangerous it is, since it always destroys righteous civilizations. She said people don't even recognize they're in the pride cycle. She's also learned that Christ instituted His covenants and ordinances in ancient days; the things we have now are not just modern revelation. She said that the prophecies that we have now are kind of like clarifications for what was in the Book of Mormon. She also realized that everything in our church is in the Book of Mormon, that's it's not all modern revelation.

I think one of the main things that we can take from Rhiannon's comments is to stay away from the pride cycle. It is the downfall of every righteous civilization in the Book of Mormon and the Bible, so it can easily be our downfall in our imperfect and unrighteous world. If we do get caught in it, we need to realize we are in the cycle and get out as quickly as possible before we get too far in and can't get out.

We should also realize that the laws we have today have been the same for thousands of years, and that a lot of them are nothing new. The Book of Mormon was truly written for us, because it has many warnings for us to heed in these latter days. We should search these words diligently to guard ourselves from Satan, so that we will be able to return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Journey of Faith: The New World

I watched the video Journey of Faith: The New World. Once again, I was definitely tired and fell alseep through some of it, but the video was totally awesome. I thought it was really interesting and made me realize some things that I guess I just hadn't fully thought about before. I always knew that the Aztecs and Mayas had been decended from the Lamanites, but I didn't actually think that they were them, that they actually built and lived in the famous cities that we always hear about in Central America. It kind of blows your mind a little bit, and just makes the Book of Mormon seem even more real. I know that I don't always register the fact that what we're reading actually happened, that I'm not just reading some story. The archeological proof like this just makes it all come to life.

I think it's kind of cool how they can approximate the location of all of the peoples from the Book of Mormon that lived in Central America based on the way they describe the shape of the land in the scriptures. Although we don't know for sure where exactly everyone was during the time of the Book of Mormon, we do know the general location.

One of the coolest things on the video was when they were talking about the time periods of the peaks of certain civilizations, and how they perfectly corresponded with the time of the peaks of certain Book of Mormon peoples. All of the things that have been discovered about the people in Central America at the time of the Book of Mormon are almost perfectly in sinc with what it says in the Book of Mormon.

One of the things they talked about was the importance of temples for the people of the Book of Mormon, and the fact that the pyramids we have come to know in Central America were the temples for the inhabitants of the Book of Mormon. I like that one of the people being interviewed said that there was no way Joseph Smith, living in the time that he did with the little amount of education that he had, would have been able to make this stuff up and be so accurate. It just confirms the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

The Power of Fasting

God has commanded people in the scriptures to fast. I have a testimony about the power of fasting.

When I was nine, I had my first real experience with it. We were visiting my grandparents in Arizona, and we had brought our dog with us. He ended up getting a very deadly sickness called parvo, which usually kills most dogs that get it. I was sad, because I didn't want him to die, and so my dad suggested that I fast all day the next day to try and heal him. I did just that; I drank liquids, but I went a full day without eating any food. As a nine year old, that is pretty awesome. My dog ended up recovering from the disease, and this was my first really strong experience with fasting.

A few years later, our cat got hurt really, really bad. My brothers and I were distraught, because my parents said that he was probably going to have to be put down, and we loved our cat. After my parents left to go to the vet with our cat, my brothers and I all prayed for our cat that he would be able to be healed. After the prayer, while my parents were still gone, I felt a burning in my chest, and I realized what it was, and I told my brothers that I thought everything was going to be alright. Sure enough, my parents came home and told us that although it would cost a lot of money, they would be able to do surgery for our cat and save him. The surgery was done, but a week or two later his wound ended up getting infected. Once again, we fasted for our pet that he would be able to be healed, and he was.

I know that fasting is a powerful thing. It has saved many of my pets from death, and I hope that I will be able to keep this testimony and be able to have a purpose when I fast on fast Sundays. Even Christ fasted, and He is our greatest example. I encourage everyone, even myself, to fast with a purpose, so that it won't be in vain, and that if God wills it, our prayers when we fast will be answered. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Project 10 and the Influences and Testimonies of My Peers

For this project I read some of my fellow classmate's responses. It was great to see the testimonies of my peers, and to know that I am not the only one who struggles with my faith. You can tell from a lot of their responses that they are good, faithful members of the church, and they are good examples for me. One of the entries reminded me not to judge people. I have had a problem with this for a long time, as I'm sure many other people have, and I am trying to make a new goal to except people for their quirks, because I know I have mine and people are still able to tolerate me. I was reminded to encourage young men to remain worthy to hold the priesthood so that they may serve a mission. I was also reminded of the power of fasting, something that I haven't really thought of in a while, but I was able to remember the testimony I have of its power. I think it's a good idea to read the projects of the other students; we get to read the testimonies of people our own age. Although we are taught to trust and believe in the words of the prophets and apostles, it is always great to hear the testimonies or our peers, for they are the people that are more on the same maturity level as we are. I can learn from the other students, and if I have an open heart, my testimony should be able to be strengthened through theirs. I am grateful for the good comments I get to hear in my class, and I know that some, if not all, of the guys in there are going to be great missionaries. I was reminded of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for us, and I hope that I will be able to live with Them again.

Compasses and Covenants

I read an article titled Of Compasses and Covenants by Lance B. Wickam of the Seventy, that appeared in the Jun 1996 Ensign. It talked about how the Book of Mormon shows that the way back to our Father in Heaven is through making and keeping sacred covenants with Him, which we mentioned towards the end of class today. He says that we have to do more than just make covenants, but that we have to keep them, and live diligently following the words and teachings of Christ. Elder Wickam compares covenants to compasses, that they point out the sure and direct way back to our Heavenly Father. As people lost in the wilderness must rely on a compass to return safely home, we must rely on our covenants to outline what we must do to return to Heavenly Father.

We have been taught that in Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life, the rod of iron symbolized the word of God. In this article, Elder Wickam says that this broadly means 'the teachings and commandments,' but that in a more specific sense it is 'the sacred covenants between God and man.' So, holding fast to the rod of iron means that we make and keep covenants with God. By living our covenants, and renewing them weekly by partaking of the sacrament, we will be able to receive celestial glory for time and all eternity. We must be careful not to become prideful like the Nephites did, though, for then we are not living the covenants the way that we are supposed to be; there is a prophesy in the Book of Mormon that an angel spoke to Nephi about the Christ's Church in our day:

"[T]here are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations.” 38 Nephi then “beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few.” 39 That this “church of the Lamb” refers to those who both make and keep sacred covenants is indicated by the following passage:
“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory."

We must be sure that we are those strong and few in the last days. We must live and keep our covenants that we have made with God, for he will surely keep the ones He has made with us as long as we uphold our end of the bargain. In the end, it is our eternal salvation that is at stake, and the chance to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all of eternity. Let us strive to be able to fulfil these goals everyday.

Men are worth less than dirt...

I memorized Helaman 12:7; this is the scripture that talks about how men are more insignificant that the "dust of the earth." It is important to remember that we were created by our Father in Heaven, and that everything good comes from Him. Sometimes we get caught up in our lives, and we don't take the time to stop and thing about the blessings that God has given us, and we get a little prideful until God chastises us, or when we suffer afflictions and we return back to Him with a newly-humbled heart. We must withhold from being prideful in ourselves, for we are nothing; God is no respector of man. We are His creations, so would not everything that happens to us come from Him as well? We must not think that we are so cool, or that we generate our own success, because that is a lie. We should always remember to thank God in our prayers for what we have been given, and must remain humble in heart and contrite in spirit so that we will always remember Him, so we may have the chance to live with Him again.

Sanctification

I read the references and comments about Helaman 1-7. A lot of it wasn't anything too extraordinarily new, just reiterating things I've heard in the past. I think the newest commentary I read were those about the "principles of sanctification." It says that sanctification 'is a process whereby fallen man is enabled to become pure, holy, and eventually free from sin.' It also says that this is done by the Holy Ghost, that it makes us want to be better. It says that '[h]ow much the Spirit cleanses or purifies depends on the obedience of the person.' We have to fast and pray, become more humble, become more faithful to God, and yield our hearts unto Him in order to be sanctified.

This reminds me of one of the talks we were supposed to read at the beginning of the semester, that said something along the lines that we wanted to have a change of heart, that we should want to become better than what we are. We are always needing to become better, because we aren't perfect. There will always be things we will need to work on to become a better disciple of Christ. But we will always have this option ready and open for us, because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to succeed; They want us to come unto Them and to obey the commandments so that we can live with Them again. We are so fortunate to have a God that loves us and wants us to succeed. I have been realizing the love that Heavenly Father has for us more and more this semester, and I noticed it again this week. He is so willing to help us, that it would stupid for us not to take advantage of the Atonement. We should strive to make sure that Christ's sacrifice was not in vain, that it was for a great purpose. But we can only make sure of this if we are willing to sanctify ourselves unto the Lord.

Journey of Faith Video Reflections

I have seen some of this movie in my other BOM class. I thought it was really interesting to note all of the proof that has been found over the years that supports what is in the BOM. Joseph Smith prophesied to someone that if they lived into the next century, they would see proof unfold that supported the BOM's content. There is just absolutely no way that Joseph Smith could have written this on his own. Everything, every detail, is so perfect, that a man with an eigth grade education could not have invented something like this in his wildest dreams. There were cities discovered that were mentioned in the BOM, cities that before had gone undiscovered. The Lord revealed these things in His own time.

I will admit, I fell asleep watching some of this movie; I had a very late night last night. But the video brings up things that I don't think we think about too often; they start to really talk about Lehi and Sariah and Nephi as actual people. I know that for me I don't always think of them as actual people; but they really, really talk about who they were. They talk about Nephi's interest in blacksmithing, and about how he took the time to comment on the detail and craftsmanship of Laban's sword. They talked about how Lehi would have looked to his sons Laman and Lemuel, and how crazy he must have seemed to them. I think one thing important to note is that the way Laman and Lemuel behave is very characteristic of people back in that time. Even though they disagreed with their father, they still left with him, because that was the custom of the family members in that time period. Every tiny detail is absolutely perfect, from the customs to the geography and the descriptions of different locations. Like the man in the video said, this is from God.

Project #3

For my project this week I decided to share what I'd learned with my roommate Kenzie and her friend, Jacob. I talked to them about what I had learned about repentance in class today. Although I didn't actually learn something while teaching them, class helped me clarify a confusion that I'd had before. I'd read somewhere that we aren't supposed to repent everyday, yet we were being told to repent always. I learned that we aren't always repenting of huge things, but that by keeping Christ and his Atonement in our hearts, we are daily repenting. We are remembering the sacrifice of Heavenly Father's Only Begotten Son so that we could return and live with him again. Although repentance is a painful process, the Lord is the one who experienced the real pain; he is the only one that can wash away our sins, and the Atonement and God's grace are the only ways we can come to live with Him again. It is amazing that Jesus Christ loved us so much that he died for us. Although I don't remember him from the pre-existence, he remembers me while I am here. He loved me enough to die for my sins, me who is so unworthy. He died so all of us could have salvation. Yet everyday I do things that insult his sacrifice for us; we all do. Thanks heavens for repentance. Without it, we would all be lost causes. I know there are things that I need to work on in my life. I am not perfect, and none of us are; sometimes it seems impossible to be as Heavenly Father is, for he commands us to be perfect even as He is perfect. Yet, we can still live with Him again, through His and Christ's sacrifice. Heavenly Father felt so much pain to sacrifice His Son, but He loved us enough to support this plan of salvation. I hope that I can appreciate it more in the future, and come to love my Heavenly Father and my Savior as much as they love me. I hope I can come to love my fellow man in the same way, too, and that I will be humble enough to do what I need to do to live with my Heavenly Father again. We must all remember that repentance is an everyday thing, and that we should not procrastinate repenting of our sins, because one day it will be too late, and we will be judged for our works. Let us all strive to be a better people, and come to love one another even as Christ and our Father in Heaven loves us.

Book of Mormon Project #4

For this project, I chose to memorize 3 Nephi 11:29, which reads: "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another." I was not so much learning something new by memorizing this scripture, but rather reinforcing a truth that I have heard before; however, it is one that is very important and one we should all remember. Sometimes we get to caught up in our daily lives that we don't stop to think of the little things we might say or do. We might have a bad morning, and snap at a roommate or loved one, or fight with that person, and think nothing of it. However, when we are doing things like this, the Spirit is leaving us and we are inviting Satan into our lives. I don't think that people really think about this, and I know I certaintly don't; this scripture has reawakened me to the truth that when we are contentious we are of the devil. It may seem harsh to say that, but that's the reality of the matter. Since I decided to memorize this scripture, hopefully I will be able to keep this truth in my mind as I go about my life now, and try to be as kind to my fellow man as I can. I know that I whine and groan about people, and even get into verbal fights with some people; I'd certaintly forgotten about this scripture up until I happened upon it when looking for one to memorize. However, maybe because of some things that have recently been happening, God wanted me to find this scripture, to reinforce this truth in my life. It is certaintly something that I can work on, being non-contentious, and I'm sure there will times when I will need to work on it further. However, because God is patient, He will allow me to work on it as much as I need to; hopefully I will take advantage of His patience and mercy and live my life according to the things Christ taught, so that I may return and live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.