Trust in Change

All throughout life we will experience change.  We may not know why or how it is going to effect our lives, but God does.  These different experiences in life are what God is going to use to help us become who we are suppose to become in this life.  We are meant to meet every person we meet.  We are meant to be in the families we are in.  We are meant to live in the town we live.  We are meant to go through every trial we have!  The difference is our attitude.  Love those experiences.  God is in charge, and he knows every single thing we NEED to BECOME who we are meant to become.  For this Thanksgiving holiday, I am grateful for change.  I am grateful that God loves ME enough to help me experience the changes I need in this life to reach my full potential.  We don't always understand or know why we are going through different trials, but God does.  When we endure with patience and trust in God, we will learn more than we would any other way. 

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

and lean NOT unto thine OWN understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him,

and he shall direct thy paths."  Proverbs 3:5-6

                                     Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin-

                                  "Come what may and Love it"

What are you grateful for??

Even the great struggle

When we think of prophets throughout the scriptures or even today in our lives we think of great, strong, devoted men.  We think of people that are never tempted or yield to temptation.  We look up to them.  We hold them high above everything that we think we could be.  But, even these people are subject to temptations. Christ himself faced temptation.  It's up to us to decide if we will listen or ignore the temptation. 

In the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 4:17-19 is an example of a prophet named Nephi that faced temptation.  It reads:

"Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am!  Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.  I am encompassed about, because of the temptations of the sins which do so easily beset me.  And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted."

This great prophet of God even has temptations that "so easily beset him."  But he knows who he trusts in, which is our Heavenly Father!  We need to lean on him.  Ask for his help!  Plead with him that he will help you to not fall into temptations.  Further in the chapter, versus 26-35, is an amazing example of Nephi praying to the Father for help and support.  If you are struggling with a temptation, look to our prophets for examples of leaning on Heavenly Father to overcome sin.  Pray with all the energy of your heart.  Ask him to have the strength to overcome those things that "so easily beset" you.  He is there, He will help. Why?  Because He loves you!

"Come unto me,

all ye that labour and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28

Our Awesome, Spectacular Luau!!

Hey there friends and family!

I was just thinking it would be fun to show some pictures we got from the Luau we had on October 8!  Thank you to everyone that helped and supported us there!  You are all very amazing!

 We went over to see the cooking process... Pretty intense!!!  Three little piggies on a stick!

 Hiapo the master cook!  A lot of chicken.

 Ok, So I don't know how many of you have stood by a grill like this, but its SUPER hot and I was getting cooked a little myself.

 This is what happens when you leave your camera with the Tongans and they have time to spare while the other three pigs are cooking!  HAHA

Another shot of the cooking process.  They have giant trailers they turn into grills.  They can take them from house to house and cook lots of meat!

 The group!  We had ruffly 350 people come through by the end of the night!  Such a fun party!!

 We had some dancing performed.  We had the Spanish Branch do a musical number.  Sorry, don't have a lot from the Tongans because they are all on video.

Here is the missionary crew as well!! 

Thanks again to everyone that helped and supported this Luau!  I hope you all had a fun and exciting time!  :)

Time flies!

Well, time has gone a flying! 

Many things have been changing around here.  But through it all, I have come to learn that God is near and that He loves us no matter what!  I am training a new companion and been helping her learn to love the missionary life.  But, through this experience, I have come to learn even more how imperfect I am.  I have made a lot of mistakes and each day strive to do better.  But as I have been praying and asking for my Heavenly Father's help to do better and be something more, I have felt his love more abundantly in my life.  I have come to love a scripture in Romans 8:35-39 written by Paul:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loves us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing can separate us from the love of God.  "God is love." (1John 4:8)  He is perfect in lpving us.  There is nothing that we might have done that would prevent God from loving us.  We are his children, He is patient with us.  He understands our struggles and our weaknesses.  This is why God allowed his only Begotten Son to come and atone for us because He knew that we needed it. 

Start today!  Make today the day that you "cleave unto the Lord." (Joshua 23:8)  He loves you.  No matter where you have been, what you have done, what you have said, what you have thought, turn to the Lord.  If you have the sincere heart and a contrite spirit, his promise is that He WILL forgive you! (3 Nephi 12:19-20) He is there.  He wants you to be better.  He wants you to be happy and full of joy!  Allow Him to help you and become a follower of His son, Jesus Christ. 

Progressive blogs rock!

Well, I don't know if a lot of you remember that this blog post was started as a progressive blog, but I would encourage you to continue to follow it.  It is now been passed to 4 missionaries and continuing to be past!  This is the start of it.
Be Still My Soul: What the Book of Mormon means to us!

It will be a blessing for you to follow this and read up on what us, as missionaries and members feel about the Book of Mormon.  IF you, ANY OF YOU, would like to have the blog be past to you, let me know!! We would love to have others outside of us missionaries to join in.  Hope you are having a great day!!

Have the faith and eyes to see the miracles God gives us each and every day! 

Love ya!