What I have learned on my mission

First off, thanks for reading my blog post. :)

I think the biggest lesson I have learned on my mission is one I already knew.
"But how could you learn something you already knew?"
Well, my testimony of this principle has been strengthened.  The principles I have learned on my mission all seem to point to my understanding of this singular principle:

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation.

I pray as I write this blog post that the Spirit of God will confirm to you the truths of His gospel.  I also pray that you will allow my words to strengthen your Faith in Jesus Christ, and motivate you to take action and walk in the ways of our Savior Jesus Christ.

As I have been serving in the Washington DC North Mission, I have come to understand that this life can be difficult. As a 19-21 year old, I have talked with people who have questions and/or problems, and I would listen to them and they would often expect me to have something to answer or solve them. Some struggle financially, some might feel offended by another.  Some might experience sorrow, grief or pain. Some experience all three of those.  Some struggle with depression and some have addictions.  Some feel they are not good enough, some feel lonely.  Some are hungry.  Some are homeless.  Some are cast out and rejected.  Some feel like they were treated unfairly. Some deal with other hardships mortality has to offer.

If you have felt any of these ways before, I solemnly testify: Jesus Christ loves you. 
He knows what you went through, what you are going through and what you will go through.
He lived a mortal life with mortal life feelings and appetites and temptations.
He suffered all the pains, afflictions, sicknesses and temptations of every kind in the Garden of Gethsemane (Alma 7:11-12), and was crucified for our sake. (Mark 15:22,25)

The Prophet Isaiah says "with His stripes, we are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-6).
He also says "though your sins be as SCARLET, they shall be as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18)

As one of our hymns declares: “We may not know, we cannot tell, What pains he had to bear, But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there” (“There Is a Green Hill Far Away,” Hymns, no. 194).

Moroni says "Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him..." (Moroni 10:32)

Perfected? Really? When I am so imperfect and I fall so much?
You have to believe and follow.

One of my favorite Children's songs says "What does the Father ask of us?  What do the scriptures say?

Have FAITH.  Have HOPE.  
Live like His Son.  
Help others on their way.

lifting burdens

Press on and don't give up.  

Commit yourselves to follow Him.  

This brings true happiness.

On a lighter note, we helped someone transform their basement! 

The Savior sees what we can become before we become it.  With His divine help, we can change our lives.

Similarly, the Homeowner here had a vision of what his basement could look like so that he could host his family while they were in town.  He couldn't do it himself, so he asked us, the missionaries to step in and help.  Likewise the Savior won't help us if we don't want him to.  We need to put forth effort. We need to be asking for his help.  We need to be consistently asking what we can do more to change.  Not all at once, but little by little, things will become more organized and clean.  

Doing this made me feel like a guy from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Here are some pictures of the basement. 

Before

 After 

What a transformation! :)

We kept asking "okay, what's next?" after accomplishing a task.  We can do the same in our lives to have the gospel transform us.

Here are the basic steps.

Through Christ we CAN be cleansed from sin.

1. Have Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and seek to strengthen that Faith.

2. Repent of your sins.

3. Be baptized by immersion for the remission of sins.

4. Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. Endure to the end, continue in the Faith, repent of sins, and strive to keep the commandments of God.

My Testimony

I have felt His love.  I have been transformed and healed and born again.  I know He lives, and I have Faith that He can do all things.  I know the Atonement of Jesus Christ is for us now. I am not perfect, but I rely on Him who is perfect to continue to transform me, and help me to be happy.  He commands all men everywhere to come unto Him, to repent, and keep His commandments.  Those who do these things will be happy.  I know because I have done them and it brings me happiness every time.

Jesus Christ is real and his arms of mercy are outstretched toward you.  Press on with Faith in Him. Transformation doesn't happen all at once.  Be patient with yourself and others.  

Here is a reminder that we all need:

God will always, always, always love you.

Here's a talk I love by Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  CLICK HERE to watch, listen and read.

Lessons Learned from Lindsey

A friend of mine once asked me a couple of months ago, "What does the Atonement mean to you?"

At first, I thought, "That's easy, it means everything!"

Then I realized that I couldn't effectively communicate my feelings regarding the Atonement of Jesus Christ .

I had to think about it a lot.  I tried over and over to put it into definite and simple words, but they wouldn't come as easily as I thought they would, but with my Zone Leaders Workshop and a little inspirational Fireside from Lindsey Stirling(My mission allows me to rub shoulders with celebrities sometimes more than once!). I finally have my answer.

About a month before the Lindsey Stirling Fireside, our Zone Leaders set up a workshop for us to learn titled, "Lay it at the Saviors Feet".  An awesome Sister Missionary(Sister Rowley) wrote about her own experience from it here.

The workshop was about us learning to lay our regrets, our problems and our worries at the Saviors feet. 

When they asked us to think about our regrets and what we could have done better,  I couldn't think about anything I honestly regretted, sure, things that I could have done better, but life is a work in progress!~

A verse of scripture that did come to mind was when Peter asked Jesus what John the Beloved would do,

"If I will that he[John] tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." (John 21:22)

In this case it said to me, "Well, what does it matter if I want someone else to take the spotlight or to be center stage? Right now I want you to follow me." (I realize it's a bit out of context and in reality Jesus was talking about how Peter was to follow the Savior in martyrdom, but at this time, that was what the verse was saying to me)

I pondered on that for a couple days.  What does it mean to follow the savior?

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is something which strengthens me.  It cleanses me of my sins and regrets.  The Savior felt everything that we have felt, as it says in the Book of Mormon, "...that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people..." (Alma 7:12)

These are the facts of the Atonement but my friend had asked me, what the Atonement meant to me... which I was still struggling to put into words and as Albert Einstien said,

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." 

This is where Lindsey Stirling comes in.

Picture taken from mormon.org

Let it be known, I now appreciate Lindsey Stirling. She is a fantastic public speaker.  This past Wednesday, she came to the Visitors' Center(on her day off, I might add) to speak those who wanted to listen.  There's a Deseret New's article on what happened 'here'.

Lindsey opened the fireside with this statement, "What does it mean to finish at the wrong finish line?  Absolutely nothing."

She went on to relate to us one of her experiences as a cross-country runner in high school, in typical Lindsey flair(I can't really communicate that in plain text... So I'll just give a summary).

In this particular race, the men's and women's courses were right next to one another.  She had been running near the front of the pack, yet she had lost sight of the lead runners.  Soon she caught sight of the finish line and ran with all her might!  Though to her dismay, she quickly found out that it was the men's finish and she had just led everyone who was following her to it.

There were many interpretations you could get out of the story but she went on to tell us about how our own definition of a finish line might be a little different from Gods definition for us.
  
Next, she told us about her experience in America's Got Talent, when she auditioned after thinking and praying long and hard about it.

She got past the auditions and in her own words said, "After that, I started attaching my happiness to doing well[in America's Got Talent], just getting to the next round, saying to my Heavenly Father, 'If I just make it to the next round, then I'll be happy'"

To finish her story, she told us about the end of her Live Television Debut.  I don't remember the exact words which she used but it was heart-wrenching enough.  The celebrity judges gave her 'the giant X' halfway through her performance then afterwards proceeded to tell her she would never amount to anything.

I'd read about her experience before she spoke to us but coming from her in person, it became a real event to me. I hurt for her.

Lindsey's confidence was shattered and she felt like she would never perform again.  To finish her story, she related a quote from a movie, "Cool Runnings", (I've never seen it, but apparently it's super good stuff). 

Coach Irv was a four-time Olympic gold medalist yet for his fifth, he cheated, was caught and had his medals stripped from him.  When he was asked by his trainees years later why he cheated, he said about the medals and their confidence in themselves, "If you're not enough without it, then you're not enough with it." 

Lindsey wanted us to understand that our sense of self-worth can't come from the world.  We can't attach that self-worth to something which is transient.

She then told us about her service as a Sister Missionary.

Taken from Mormon.org

"Confidence comes from the Spirit", she said, then she referenced D&C 121:45, which states,

"...let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God..." 

You might be wondering, "Is he just including all these references to Lindsey Stirling so he can brag about it?"

No, I am not.

I am including this because of what happened after the fireside which allowed me to state in simple terms what the atonement means to me.


You see, I haven't had much interaction with celebrities of high caliber(big surprise, right?).  Well afterwards, she was basically mobbed (in the nicest sense of the word) by her besotted fans, who rushed up to her like children who had just heard that cotton candy was free at the Carnival for only five minutes.(I really wish I got a picture of that...).  I stood back and watched.

What really surprised me was that Lindsey didn't act annoyed, didn't tense up, didn't do anything which told me that she was frustrated with her fans.

She did the exact opposite.

She posed patiently with each person.  She tried to talk with them(sort of).  She kept posing with people once she had been told that the Visitors' Center was closing.  The lights were turned off and everybody was told to get going and even as she was leaving to the backstage, she still took pictures, apologizing profusely that she had to leave.

It was interesting.  Yes, you can make the argument that she's a celebrity, she's just doing her job, but for me, it was the catalyst of my thought process.

As I was watching all of these people, a scripture came to mind about the Savior when he visited the people of America,

"...he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them."  3 Nephi 17:21

Lindsey, whether she realized it or not, was emulating the Savior(from my viewpoint).

As Mormons, we are supposed to remember the Savior at all times and in all places, trying to be like him and do what he would do.  Earlier in the fireside, she had referenced "The Lion King", when Mufasa came to Simba in a vision telling him,

"You have forgotten who you are, and therefore, forgotten me."

We are to remember that we are children of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us.  His Son, Jesus Christ, came to the Earth not only to show us an example of how to live but to perform the Atonement, to make sure that we could return to our Father in Heaven.

From that, my mind shifted into high-gear, jumping from idea to idea like a kangaroo hyped-up on caffeine-

1. As we remember who we are, we remember our Father in Heaven.
2. We remember the Savior and try to be like him.
3. Memories are important
4. As we make choices and learn from the mistakes we remember, character is formed
5. Confidence is gained as we follow the commandments and as we, "...let virtue garnish our thoughts..."
6. The Atonement helps us change ourselves so that we can be confident in the presence of God.
7. Missionaries are super-confident sometimes. (okay, pretty much all the time, at least to the public...)
8. Eureka.

To me, choices have become a pretty big thing in my life as I've written before.  I've always got a choice, though it may be more difficult, depending on the circumstances.

Then it made sense.  The atonement means so much to me because I can choose.  I make mistakes.  I mess up.  I trip and fall, then get back up.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ means I can make choices in confidence.  I am free to act.  I don't have to be afraid that I'll be shut out of the presence of God because I made a mistake. I know that as long as I am sincerely trying to move forward and take the appropriate steps of repentance, I can be confident before the Lord.  I can't choose my consequences, true, but I can choose the best course of action according to my beliefs.  I can make choices to determine my character and try emulate Jesus Christ.  The Atonement means that I can one day stand before Heavenly Father and, "though [my] sins be as scarlet", because of Jesus Christ "[my sins] shall be as white as snow" Isaiah 1:18

It was a fantastic step forward for me~

So, yeah, it was good.~


In other news:

So not only was Wednesday a happy day, it was also a sad one; it was transfer meeting! My trainer, Elder Radford finished his two years of service and headed home.  My trainee, Elder Elliott is training a brand new missionary, fresh from the MTC whose name is Elder Hamblin.  I've included a picture of all four of us in one final shot...  A lot of people whom I respected and looked up to finished their service on that day.

(Left to right)Elder Hamblin, Elder Radford, Me(!), and Elder Elliott

This was the friend of mine who supplied the picture of Lindsey Stirling speaking at the Visitors' Center.

It's been a while since I've seen her so it was great!~

So to sum things up: 

Due to a lesson which my leaders gave to us and a small fireside by Lindsey Stirling, I can say with confidence why the Atonement of Jesus Christ means so much to me.

Enjoy a complimentary video about the Atonement where the Apostles testify of Him!~

Life: Always changing yet still remaining the same...

To preface this post; 
We're sorry!~ It took a little while to coordinate this post!!!!

When Elder Hart is speaking, he will use this font.
When Elder Horowitz is speaking, he will be using this Font

With that, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!~

Ever since I was set apart as a missionary on Sunday, September 16th, 2012,  I have had another missionary companion.

Missionaries are connected at the hip with their companion. We're supposed to stay within sight and sound of each other, never leave one another, and continue to work together with this person for, at the very least, 6 weeks.  We get no choice in who this person is, he (or she, if you're a woman) is assigned to you.

For the last 3 months of my mission, I have been put in a companionship with this one guy.  His name is Elder Wesley Cannon.

When he got his mission call, it was to Brazil, Curitiba. 

 But he didn't get his visa... so they reassigned him to the Washington DC North Mission, where Elder Horowitz and I were called to serve.

[I also had a companion(Elder Harston) who was assigned to Brazil, but was reassigned here because he hadn't gotten his Visa yet...]

Here's a pic of my call letter.

So last Tuesday was pretty crazy.  After having district meeting in Calvert, I drove him to the Washington DC Temple Visitors' Center.

I dropped him off and someone was supposed to be there to pick me up, but they weren't there yet. So for about 20 minutes or so, I didn't have a companion.

Have any of you missionaries past or present been in this situation?

AHH!! I don't have a companion!  That's against mission rules!  J.S. Armstrong was there with me for some of the time... and Elder Hatch was there while his companion was doing a project... but I was taking deep breaths trying to remain calm.  I tried calling Elder Dickerson.

NO ONE ANSWERED THE PHONE!!!   

AHHH!!! some more... but only in my head.

I CALLED AGAIN! STILL! NO! ANSWER!!!

Same.

I was going to wait 5 minutes and call them again, but they came and rescued me. 

I'M FREE!    :D

It was weird because I was the... Bowie... Elder... instead of being one of the Bowie Elders.
And I wasn't even in Bowie!
And I wasn't going to be in Bowie until I got a companion the next day!

I spent the night there in the Bethesda/Rockville areas' apartment with Elder Reedy, Elder Thornton, Elder Von Trapp and Elder Dickerson; four of my favorite missionaries out here.  They all have been great friends to me.  It was a little weird being there again because I had served there before when I was assigned in the Potomac and Bethesda wards.  It was a little nostalgic.

The next day we had a transfer meeting in the morning. :)  It was wonderful.  All the missionaries in the mission came together and met in the auditorium in the Visitors' Center.  The missionaries who went home gave their testimonies as they departed the mission and went home.  We sang our mission song, "Testify of Me" as a mission.  Elder Eyring, the director of the Visitors' Center spoke and our Mission President, President Cooke spoke.  The Spirit was felt and we recommitted ourselves to doing the Lord's work.

I loved it too!  President Cooke essentially told us to buck up and rededicate ourselves to the Work of Salvation.  The testimonies of the departing missionaries were really moving. Particularly that of Elder Alca and Hermana Engman, both of whom I knew.

During that time, I felt invigorated and ready to serve! For lack of better words, I was pumped! 

Though sadly, I had to tell my old companion Elder Harston, goodbye, and welcomed my new Companion, Elder Stanley to the area! 

After the meeting, all the missionaries go upstairs and out to the parking lot to unload and load up suitcases, luggage, crates of our stuff into the right cars assigned to the new area we have been assigned to.  Then each companionship drives back to their areas and resumes proselyting.

Since it's not a preparation day, we're supposed to go straight to work once we return to our area. 

Selfie!
(wait, is it a selfie if it is two people?)
This is my new companion, Elder He! (pronounced huh)

Elder Hart and Elder He in the Bowie East area

In two more weeks, we will be back at the Visitors' center receiving more missionaries and bidding others farewell at the Washington DC North Mission Transfer Meeting.

Sincerely!~
Elder Hart and Elder Horowitz

There is always a choice...

When I was younger (Age:9-12ish) and getting angry, I used to yell at speak very politely with my mother,

"You're making my ANGRY!"

"I can't make you do anything," she would respond, "that's your choice!"

Looking back, I've come to appreciate the fact that, though we may not have much control over the circumstances we are in, we always have choices, no matter the situation.

That small lesson from my mother had lasting consequences.

I know that because of that, I can choose for myself how I react, even if the situation is not in my favor.

Even if the world seems like it's falling apart.

Even if my body is fighting against me.

I have a choice.

This is a chance given to me by my Father in Heaven.

My choice is to get up when I feel down, to continue when all seems lost.  I want to keep going, to keep moving, I don't want to stay still and admit defeat.  I don't want to be beaten by the natural man, my internal voice which says, 'I can't'.

Sometimes it's a battle, sometimes, an easy victory, but every step forward is in the right direction.

I know that my Father in Heaven has given me the opportunity to change, to choose and if we truly want it bad enough, we can move forward because,

If we want to progress.  We can push on.  God will always put at our fingertips resources that we can use to change ourselves or use so that we can continue to progress.  We just need to look around us.

If we want to.  That's the wonderful thing about the plan that our heavenly father has given us.

Even if we no more desire to change and/or progress, our Heavenly Father will help us find the proper tools.  There's a scripture that I think about whenever pause to ponder about change/progression:

"...behold, if ye will awake[!] and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, 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 believe..."  -Full Reference-

If we believe that we can do it, or at the very least try to believe, it could happen! (Believe in the me that Believes in YOU! [A gold star to whoever gets that reference])

I'm not saying that every challenge can be overcome by pure willpower or the resources that God puts at our disposal.  Sometimes, we have to simply endure.

Just like Elder Richard J. Maynes said in his speech, The Strength to Endure,

"Many of the challenges we face in life can be solved and overcome; however, others may be difficult to understand and impossible to overcome and will be with us until we pass on to the next life. As we temporarily endure the challenges we can solve and as we continue to endure the challenges we cannot solve, it is important to remember that the spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life." [Emphasis Added]

By enduring our Earthly Trials, we grow spiritually.  We become more than we were before.

I guess one of the tricks of life is determining which trials are the ones that we can change and which ones we can't.

A mental illness or chronic disease is one of those things that I don't think you can change, regardless of how much you rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ(which is there to help strengthen us anyways). As I heard a fellow missionary recently describe it,

"Jesus is not some magical repairman who you call when something is broken(whether it be physical or just the situation).  He is our Savior and Redeemer."

We can call on Him when we are in trouble, it's true, but he is with us from the beginning and will strengthen us to face our problems way before it even comes to the point where all we have left is Him.

I'm not a physician or a psychiatrist so I'm just relying on my own perceptions (so I could be wrong), but from what I've seen is that God gives us trials based on us individually. They are very personal to us, and are there to help us become stronger and learn to rely on Him.

Because we've overcome those trials and gotten stronger, I think it must be Human Nature to want to help others surpass similar circumstances.

We want to help others who are going through those hard times, but we can only see their troubles through the filter of our own experiences.  That doesn't mean that we do not have something constructive that could help them and their problem.  We most certainly could but everyone is different(If only just a little bit)!~

We don't know their thoughts, we might only be seeing the tip of the iceberg, for all we know, they could be fighting the hardest battle of their life.

That's why I think it's important that we do not compare our individual trials to another persons.  It can lead to thoughts such as, "Why is this so hard for me when others can do it so easily," (for those undergoing said trial) to "Everybody else is so weak, I went through it and I'm fine!" (for those undergoing a similar trial, but past it with little effort).

From what I've seen, the best help someone can give is just listening, giving support, and being there for someone. (Of course, everybody is different so that might not work for someone else; Remember the Languages of Love!)  Sometimes, well-meaning advice can be harmful without us realizing it.  We might not have a grasp on the entire situation.

I really like the way this comic below portrays advice given without fully understanding the situation, (I think it was specifically made with reference to Depression)

Personally, I think advice is always welcome[!]~ but sometimes it's important to try and see it from another point of view before passing on the advice...

To Conclude:

I know that we have a choice.  It may not be a choice that we like, but it's always going to be there. I know if we are in too much pain, we can cry out to our Heavenly Father and He will send help.  He wants us to succeed in this life and in the life to come.

I do know that we can look up during our trials, our personal tests, and search our hearts for the answer,

because we are all Children of our Heavenly Father[God] and he will never leave us comfortless.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Complimentary Video Excerpts from Jeffrey R. Hollands' Talk :  "An High Priest of Good Times to Come"

Just PICK one!

Have you ever had trouble making decisions?  I have trouble all the time.  I feel SO indecisive some days.

Decisions sometimes are really important like whether or not you get married, or who you get married to.

Sometimes the decision does not make a huge impact on your life.  Choosing to eat cheerios over cap'n crunch might be that decision. (Sorry if you are very opinionated about your cereal and I just offended you.)

In this life we have decisions to make.

I had to make a decision whether or not I will take time out of my day as a missionary, stopping work in the area I am in, to go see two of my friends from one of my past areas get baptized.  I counseled with my mission president.  He wants me to stay in my area.  I talked with one of the two friends who are getting baptized.  He wants me to go to his baptism.

Have YOU ever needed to be in TWO PLACES in ONE TIME?  The sad fact is I can only be in one place at a time.  I feel like this happens to me SO OFTEN.  I'm just glad I'm not making a life or death decision. 

I feel like these decisions are the hardest to make because most of these decisions really are just choices between doing something great or doing something better.  UGH! Hard choices.

We choose what we say... every day... What we say is really important.
We choose what we do.... every day....What we  do is really important.
We choose what we think every day... What we think is really important.

~All these things effect who we are and who we become~

2 Nephi 2:27 explains bigger choices.

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

Joseph Smith was a 14 year old boy who wanted to know how to be saved.  He had a decision to make. He was trying to decide which church to join.  The video is great at explaining what happened to him.  God answered Joseph's prayer.  I know he will answer yours.

Maybe it will help you know which church YOU should join.  :)

Why we need a Prophet

Many people I have talked to lately don't feel the need for a prophet and/or new revelation when we already have the Bible, and the truths that are in it.

I will answer the question using the Apostle Paul's words to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:5 says "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."  That was the church of Jesus Christ, back in the days of the Bible.

Ephesians 4:11-14 says this about the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

We need a prophet who receives revelation from God to keep us unified in the faith.  Much of the New testament is about how the Apostles went about to different areas of the church and had to make adjustments to the church because

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the household.  A cornerstone lines up the foundation, so the foundation is in place.  The prophets and apostles are the foundation.  A foundation holds up a house and gives it a strong base.  The saints are the household.  We can be saints if we align our will with God's will by being obedient to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

There are so many churches who perform different ordinances and preach different laws, that it can be difficult to tell which church is God's one true church.   One Lord, one faith, one baptism. This is because there has been a great apostasy.  My testimony is that I know that God has reached out in love for his children and he has called another prophet to the earth, and He has given Him all the keys of the priesthood.  He has been given that divine permission and revelation as to how to restore His church.  Joseph Smith was that prophet.

I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.  I have heard his word and I have prayed to know if he was a prophet.  By the power of the Holy Ghost, I have come to know that he is the prophet today.  If we heed his word, we will not be led astray, but we will be led to be the people God intends on us being.  God loves us, so he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and he has always called prophets.  Why wouldn't he send one now when the world needs one most?!?  The answer is that he has.  

I invite you to hear the message he declares on April 5th and 6th of 2014 in General Conference.  

In fact, I invite you to check out anything you'd like on the General Conference page.

This is the message that I bring to the world: God speaks.  Not only does God live, but he speaks through a prophet just as He has in former days, He does now in the latter-days, and it will bless your life.  Pray to know the truth of this message for yourself.  God will answer your prayer if you are sincere, if you pray with real intent, and have faith in Christ.  Go into General Conference with a question, and leave with an answer.  "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things." -Moroni 10:5

Here's what Thomas S. Monson said at the last General Conference.
The talk is titled "Love- the Essence of the Gospel."

The Holy Ghost: a story of boys

On January 1st, 2001 (yes that's 1-1-01), I  got baptized.  Shortly after I was baptized, my Father confirmed me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then said "receive the Holy Ghost."

When I was baptized, I was only eight years old, but I knew right from wrong, and I knew that getting baptized was a good choice, and that I was following Jesus Christ.

My parents taught me at an early age about the wonderful Gift of the Holy Ghost. (click here and scroll down the page until you see "The Gift of the Holy Ghost," then click on that) They taught me how it would protect me, comfort me and how it would warn me of dangers.

One night, within one or two years of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, I was spending the night at a friend's house.  He had some cousins over.  We were having plenty of fun like all boys do, running around, wrestling, making messes, playing video games, eating junk food, watching movies, not caring much about anything at all :)  Life was perfect.

My friend and his cousins wanted to go out in his backyard and play outside during the night-time.  I knew he had some horses in his backyard, but I hadn't really been out there and I got this feeling that it was unsafe.

He and his cousins said that everything would be fine.  After a bit of them trying to convince me, I went along with them outside.  The light from the backyard porch was the only light we had.  It was dark.  We were hanging out outside, playing tag or whatever.  I remember we were running around.

All of a sudden, both my friend and one of his cousins start screaming.  I went to my friend to see what happened.  He had stepped on a two-by-four with a rusty nail sticking out.  The nail went right through his shoe and into his foot.  Oddly enough, the same thing happened to his cousin... at the same time.  It was strange.

I ran inside and told his Mom what had happened.  His mom had to carry them both inside and treat them.  I remember him sitting on the closed toilet with his shoes off just crying and crying.  He told me that he should have listened to me, and that it wasn't a good idea to go outside and play when it's dark when you can't see anything.  I have learned two things from this experience.  One: Listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  Two: If it is dark outside, it is harder to see.  "well, yeah!"

That second one makes me laugh. :)

The gift of the Holy Ghost has helped me to make right choices.  Those who are baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Both of these ordinances are done under the proper authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Since my story had to do with light, and how more light would have been helpful, here's a video about light.  David A. Bednar is the man speaking.  I hope you enjoy it.  There are 2 other parts to go with it.  Watch those too if you have time.  SO good. :)

And remember kids, don't do drugs.

Have a great week.