Faith to serve (or beat the aliens)

Today I had the opportunity to share some of my thoughts on faith and experiences from my mission in sacrament meeting at church. I shared a similar talk three times before in congregations near my home. Maybe next time I get asked to talk I should write a new talk instead of recycling an old one. However, I like sharing this.

Returned home from unique mission

• Served 8 months in Slovenia/Croatia
• 14 months in Referral Center Mission

As the first principle of the Gospel. Faith is a principle of power. It gives power to enable all the other principles. How powerful is faith?

• Apostle Paul gives us example“Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Hebrews 11:33-34
  
• With faith the Lord can help us beat the oncoming alien onslaught (pause for laughter)

Become independent...

• If we can take care of ourselves, we leave ourselves more open to receive revelation
• Have independent personal testimony
• Know the scriptures and read the Book of Mormon

D&C 84:85- "Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man."

• Eggs served at MTC are the same as at Scout Camp- If you can survive scout camp, you can survive a mission.

To gain faith in the Lord we need to serve him:

For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart? Mosiah 5:13

I gained experience with this on a mission. When walking through a thick, depressing fog with a
Zone Leader, I was asked, "how do you stay so optimistic when the weather and our lack of success are so depressing." I quoted Buckaroo Bonzai, rocket-scientist, brain surgeon, rock-star comic book hero from the cheesy 80s movie my dad would make me wath, the Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai across the eighth dimension, "No matter where you go, there you are [in the lord's service]."

I broke my foot in slovenia, walking 15-25 miles daily, and how Elder Nelson, a podiatrists son saved my foot from further injury. I shared how I was going to be sent home, and the reassurance that I received after reading D&C 50: 40-42]

40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.

Trust in Lord provided means to finish my mission.

I was transferred to the Referral Center where I could continue serving online. I had to accept the assignment on blind faith, not knowing what to expect until I arrived there.

Missionary work is being performed through Mormon.org chat, Facebook, Skype, Instant Messenger. Most lessons were typed rather than spoken.

[Joke about asking to have a projector set up and type out my talk rather than delivering it verbally.]

Can you feel the spirit over chat?

Can you feel the Spirit when you read scriptures, Ensigns, conference talks and other inspired printed communications?

The Referral Center Mission has the highest number of baptisms per missionary bringing gospel to all the world. This is fulfillment of the command to “Go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature.” Mark 16:15

All who seek full happiness can find it in the gospel of Jesus Christ, taught in His Church. Through Christ’s doctrine, we are taught that we can be part of the great plan of happiness that He has prepared for all of us, His sons and daughters. As we keep His commandments, we are blessed and come to know true happiness. We learn that happiness lies in doing small things that build up, that increase our faith and testimony. - Elder Claudio Costa

Jaz vem da Jezus Kristus je naš Odrešenik in da On

My Testimony at Home

Since I'm no longer serving over the internet as a missionary full-time, it's been some time since I've been prompted to share my testimony online. When one of the new members of the church I helped sent me a request on Facebook to use the LDS App, I leaped on the reminder it was to share my testimony.

While I was a full-time missionary in the Referral Center, I calculated one afternoon that I shared testimony online over the internet or phone an average of every three minutes during the day. Fast Sunday is a perfect day to share my testimony, which is as follows:

I know that Jesus Christ is our Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and

perfect Example. Only through following him can we become like him and return to live with our Father in heaven. Jesus Christ overcame death and sin through his birth into mortality, his perfect life, suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the

I know that he has blessed us with this life as an opportunity to build our abilities to become like Him and have true joy. He's given us our families as a great tool to help us do this. Family relationships provide the best environment to practice following Jesus Christ's example. It is my family who taught me to consider "what would Jesus do?"

I know that the Book of Mormon contains Christ's ancient directions for us, as does the Holy Bible.

I know that he has again chosen prophets and apostles, like he did in the Bible, to direct us towards him. Those prophets and apostles give inspired direction and modern scripture in our times, such as is in the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Official Declarations. God's words never cease.

I know this because I have done my best to serve Christ, and hope through his enabling grace to be able to do better each day. I'm glad for the help and invitation of those around me to follow Christ and hope to offer my help to them.

I offer this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Segullah: One in Thine Hand?

I love the New Testament, especially the four accounts of Christ's life by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The Book of Mormon is certainly the Keystone of our religion, and especially important to us as "Mormons."  However, I don't believe this detracts from the New Testament or the Old Testament. I found a great post on the blog, Segullah, with a discussion I enjoyed reading about the relationship between the Book of Mormon and the Bible, especially the New Testament:

We celebrate having “two sticks” become one in our hands, right? The Church added the label “another witness of Christ” to the front of the Book of Mormon; wasn’t the Bible the first witness? Aren’t the Bible and the Book of Mormon a team – two witnesses that clarify what have been points of contention for centuries before the Restoration? 

 I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you glean from it that particularly helps you understand the relationship between this diamond and pearl.

We Learn By Doing

I love this quote which my mother sent me.  I've been carrying it around in my jacket pocket for months and felt like sharing it today.  This quote from the prophet Spencer W Kimball is so important to me because it ties in three of my favorite scriptures with my purpose as a missionary and with the service I will render in  Christ's Church my whole life. 

A Virtuous Woman

Proverbs 31 from the scriptures of Elder Moxley

The Right Equipment

I love going on adventures with my friends.   As a teenager in high school, my friends introduced me to "spelunking" in Smith's Crack.  One afternoon, they had the idea of going to this cave that someone's cousin had shown him.   Just outside of Mountain Home, Idaho, Smith's Crack is a fissure out in the desert.  From the surface, it's just a few rocks sticking up out of the ground.  It's really a really deep and winding crack, which through a small opening, leads several hundred feet below the ground.

Mighty Prayer

There are 8 occurrences of "mighty prayer" in the Text of the Scriptures.
The powerful phrase only occurs in modernly revealed sources of God's word.

"If the bible is the word of god, why wasnt it given to man the minute he was created, if god knew all things?" (sic)

Because since the beginning, God has revealed things little by little as the world at large is willing to listen to more of what he has to say. It is known historically, that the Bible was not given to us by God in one lump sum. Instead, starting with Adam, each prophet wrote things down, and they were compiled together by prophets and leaders that came later.