Washed Clean

When teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I sometimes use a metaphor I heard while I was still a high school seminary student:

When we're born, we are given a white jumpsuit to wear. As we move through life, we often slip and fall. Sometimes we even fall headfirst in the mud. Our white jumpsuits invariably get soiled.

At the end of our lives, we will arrive at our Father's house. It is a large, white mansnion. Everything on the outside is white and immaculate. The inside is white as well.

The walls are white.

The furniture is white.

There is nothing but the purest white to be seen.

Everyone is wearing white clothing, perfectly clean.

How will we feel, as we approach this heavenly home, soiled with dirt and grime and filthiness?
We would be more comfortable to stay out, in a dirtier place.

But the gospel, the "good news", is that there is a detergent available to everyone that can cleanse any stain and remove any spot.

Leah's Conversion

This is a continuation of "The Reason I Came".
Last week, I received this poem from the younger of the two Heffelfinger girls, Leah. It's difficult to describe what this poem represents to me. I still remember the first time I sat on the couch in the living room and got to meet her and the rest of the family. I remember the eagerness to learn, and the awkwardness in having a Mormon missionary in the home for the first time. I can hardly believe the progression I have seen. She started with a yearning for hope. That desire grew into faith, and as she learned more and more about the truth of the gospel, that faith has yielded joy in the midst of incredible turmoil. She was baptized, and she committed her life to Christ earlier this year. Her seminary teacher asked her to write her feelings about the prophet Joseph Smith. Here is a poem that has inspired me, written from a young woman who has not yet belonged to the true church for even a year:

Look to the Light

I found this on youtube. What an inspiring video.

The Reason I Came

One year ago, I was serving as a missionary in Townsend, Montana. Townsend is a small town, about thirty-five minutes south of Helena, the state capitol. I loved Townsend. When I think about my mission, and what it has meant to me, Townsend always comes to mind.
I will never forget one Tuesday afternoon. My companion, Elder Roerdanz, and I were in Helena for meetings. We were finishing up, and preparing to drive home. We were headed down the State Highway 12, still in town, nearing East Helena. I had the strongest impression: "Go find the Heffelfingers,"

The Way

This is my favorite talk of all time. It just speaks to me. I've read it so many times. It's not a great idea blog-wise to just copy/paste someone else's work, but this talk expresses so well the way that I feel. It's not very long, but it has changed my life already. I would recommend taking ten minutes to watch his talk. The link: http://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-way?lang=eng. Select "Watch" on the right side.

Lawrence E. Corbridge

Of the Seventy

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There is only one way to happiness and fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the Way.

Jesus Christ, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

He said, “I am Alpha and Omega, Christ the Lord; yea, even I am he, the beginning and the end, the Redeemer of the world.”

He said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

He said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

The Bridge

Anonymous Author

There once was this turntable bridge which spanned a large river. During most of the day, the bridge sat parallel with the river, allowing ships to pass freely on both sides. But at certain times each day a train would come along and the bridge would be turned across the river allowing the trains to cross.
A switchman sat in a small shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed.
One evening, as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train's light. He stepped to the controls and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance when he was to turn the bridge into position. He turned the bridge, but to his horror, found that the locking control didn't work. If the bridge was not locked into position securely, it would wobble back and forth at the ends when the train comes onto it. This would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This train was a passenger train with many people aboard.
He left the bridge turned across the river, and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river where there was a lever he could use to operate the lock manually.

Mixing it Up

Things have been unusual for us in the field the last few days.
This last week, Elder Sargent and I picked up a new companion, Elder Dearborn. He's waiting for a visa to go to Sao Paulo, Brazil, on his mission.
I've never been in a threesome before. It's been a really great chance to evaluate myself. These are the thoughts I've had recently as a result:

On The Lord's Errand: Don't Ever Give Up

Taken from On The Lord's Errand: Don't Ever Give Up
The Race 
by D. H. Groberg

"Quit, give up, you're beaten"
They shout at you and plead
"There's just too much against you
This time you can't succeed".

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failures face
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene
Or just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being

Childrens race, young boys
Young men, how I remember well
Excitement sure, but also fear
It wasn't hard to tell

The Book of Mormon is True

As a young man, raised in the Mormon faith, and taught to believe as I was, I used to take for granted the doctines I had learned.
But members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are always taught to pray about what they learn, and to seek the truth from God.
I remember when I first began to seriously search to find the truth in my life. And although I had been immersed in it since I was a child, I had never fully internalized it, and I had never fully recognized how important it is in my life until I prayed sincerely to know.
I read the Book of Mormon. I prayed about it.

Now I know that it is true.

Desire on Fire

I sent this "epistle" to the missionaries in my zone, the Billings area. We burned the edges of the page, and sealed the envelopes with a wax seal. We were trying to make them laugh, and remember the reason they're out here on missions. The Christmas season is tough, with homesickness, rejection, and the cold to deal with; hopefully this made them laugh, and hopefully you laugh as well.

Chapter 1

The zone leaders of the Billings Zone exhort and encourage their fellow missionaries to increase their desire to carry on in the work of God; the definition of desire is set forth;  a plea for kindled desire is issued.

Elders Lanham and Sargent, called to be zone leaders of the Billings Zone of the Montana Billings Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the will of God and President Gardner;

2 Unto the Elders and Sisters of Billings and the surrounding areas, to them that are called and set apart as missionaries. We Salute thee.

3 Greetings from your zone leaders. We are grateful for your examples and your diligent, long suffering service.

Word has reached our ears of a recent, great celebration of feasting and Thanksgiving, in this the eleventh month, the twenty and fifth day, in the year of our Lord two-thousand and ten. We pray thine merrymakings were satisfactory and fulfilling.