Hey everybody! Wow it's crazy how fast time flies! its seriously amazing to me every time! But time flies when you're having fun right! Its been an extraordinary week full of mainly just simple gratitude to be a missionary... It truly is such an amazing opportunity to help and see others grow in the gospel! Being in my first area here for 5 1/2 months has put me in a unique position to see the growth that some of our investigators have made! Missionary work sure does take alot of patience, but how great is my Joy! It truly is a promise made to us from the Lord! Alma 26:27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.
I have been able to experience that success and it truly does bring that pure joy. This gospel really is happiness:)
I'm really excited to see what happens in our area the next couple of weeks, since Elder Shoemaker and I have decided to go into our primaries in our wards and ask them to include missionary experiences in their prayers for the ward and the missionaries! And we are planning on handing them their own little name tags to have and everything! its gonna be awesome!
The spiritual thought I would like to share with you stems from the well known scripture phrase, "Lord, is it I?"
This phrase comes about when the Savior and the twelve are at passover and the Savior states to them that one of them will betray him.
Matthew 26:17-25 ¶Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
It hit me pretty strikingly... as I thought about the possible order of how all of this happened. When you apply this passage to ourselves we must ask ourselves; in what instances could we betray our Savior? As I think of this I reflect on commandments, and our baptismal covenant to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. With that in mind I also reflect upon the reaction that the Savior received from his Apostles who might I add are special witness of the Savior. It talks about how EVERY ONE of them asked the Savior if it was them who would betray him! Just thinking about that.. Each of those men were around the Savior for so many of his miracles and teachings. I can only imagine the faith that they had or even the absolute knowledge and conviction they had that Jesus Christ was the Son of God! This all being said they were very quick to admit to the idea that they could be one who might betray him. (Now we don't know the order of which apostles asked first, second, third etc.) I like to imagine that Judas was one of the last to ask the Savior if it were him. So how does any of this apply to us today?
As I pondered these things I dwelled on the instance of asking the question "Lord is It I" In our day I would like to relate that to asking a question in prayer. Adding to the fact that the Apostles asked the Savior this question, it sounds alot like the process that we might go through when utilizing the Atonement in our lives! It made all of this quite beautiful to think about..
Which Apostle are we? Are we the disciple of Christ that will be quick to repentance and seek his help and ask "Is it I?", or will we find ourselves much like Judas who could have been asked last, being slow to repent or even might I add realize that he was doing something in the wrong!
My hope and prayer is that we begin to recognize just like the Apostles of old how to repent daily and use the Savior to help us become the children of God that we are destined to be! I know this Atonement is real and I love you all!
Keep smiling!
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