Faith & Perserverance

She said:

It's been a while. Consistency is a virtue I have yet to master. Anyway I am just trying to get back into it...starting from where I am now.

Today I read Alma 8. These were the things that impressed me:

• Verse 10: "Nevertheless Alma Labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer"- At this point Alma is discouraged by the wickedness of the people of Ammonihah. They have rejected what he is saying and kicked him out of their city for teaching the gospel, yet Alma continues to pray to God and do things to keep the spirit with him.
• Verse 14: Alma is :"weighed down with sorrow... (and) tribulation and anguish of soul, and an angel appears to him telling him, "Blessed art though, Alma; therefore, lift up they head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God". I really liked this verse because it reminded me that God allows us to face hardships and discouragement in our lives, yet he never forgets us and sends us comfort when we need it. We don't typically get heavenly angels like Alma did, but we do receive angels in the form of friends, family, and strangers who heed the voice of the Lord and follow through on promptings to uplift us. 
• Verse 17 talks about the people of Ammonihah as people who "do study at this time that they may destroy the liberty of the people (for thus sayeth the Lord) which is contrary to the statutes, and judgments, and commandments which he has given unto his people". This reminds me of the time in which we live right now. Without getting into politics right now, I fear we face the same problems today. Our government seeks to take away our freedoms, which is contrary to the way of God since agency is an essential root of the gospel. 
• In verse 18, after Alma is commanded to return back to Ammonihah despite them rejecting his words, Alma doesn't hesitate or try to talk his way out of going. He accepts the Lords will and "He returned speedily". 
• In verse 20 Alma meets a man Amulek who takes him in. I am impressed with Amulek as a man who was close enough to the spirit to hear the Lord tell him that he would take in Alma. He expected him and was pleased to take him in. 

Michael

He said:

So it has been a really long time since I have even looked at this blog, let alone record some feelings. Courtney and I woke up on Saturday with a fun day planned. We planned to go to the International Sportsman Expo in Sandy, Utah. I am trying to get back into outdoor activities, like hunting, fishing and camping so we decided that this could be a start. Before we left, Courtney prayed that we could have a missionary opportunity that day, and that we could follow the promptings and share the gospel.

Well......After a fun filled day of walking around, we decided that we would go and see the nice new library building downtown. We were driving there when I remembered that we were going to wash our bedding before we went to the library. We found a laundry mat in Sugarhouse. After doing our wash cycle, we put it in the dryer. We were writing on napkins some ideas we had to become a power couple, when this dude walked into the mat. He wasn't hard to notice because of the right side of his face was pretty bashed in, eye swollen, lips cut and scratches on his left cheek were hard to not notice. We were sitting in the corner of the laundry mat, and he decided to use the washers right next to us (even though there were a ton of open ones else where). Hehad that stench on him, that took me back to the days of mission. I taught someone that was interested in the LDS church that had this exact same smell. It had the tang of cheap liquor and bad breath. He smiled at us, and started mumbling and talking to himself under his breath. We weren't sure if he was talking to us, so of course Courtney said hi. He was very nice, but kept dropping the F word, and talking to someone saying you stupid mother F______. He then said something that Courtney and I are proud of...You two are LDS, huh? I responded. Yes we are! Why did you think that? He responded, you two just look happy together, and go perfect together. We thanked him, but asked him if he knew anything about the church. He replied that he was a member. He had been a deacon, teachers and priest quorum president, until he caught himself. He stated that the bishop is the president, but that he was the second councilor. He then went on about how he came to Utah to go to BYU, and then how he served a two week mission back in Texas. The stories he told were between his split personality conversations, and the statement of you stupid mothers, and you don't care, kept coming out. We talked with him for a good 45 minutes or so while our laundry was drying.

I kept getting up to show him that I am 6"10 and 280 pounds. He kept saying that this is one big mother to Courtney, while she stated; "I know". He kept going on that he won't mess with me because how tough I am. haha Out of all sincerity he was playing and joking, but I wanted to make sure he knew I was in charge if he wanted to get down. :)

We kept talking to him about the church, and committed him to come to church. We really didn't think that he would come, but he accepted. He kept saying that he will be drunk when he comes, but he would come. He said he will stink, and not shower before, but wants to come and hear about our Heavenly Father and JC (this is how he referred to Jesus). We told him we were doing a baked potato bar after church so he should come. He gave me his cell number ( he is homeless, but has a cell number ???? ). I told him that we would meet him the next day at 10:30 to make it to our sacrament. He accepted, but asked if we had anything to keep him warm that night. We had a University of Utah blanket in the trunk of our car, that we both felt that we should give him. We gave it to him, and he was so happy and grateful. He kept saying that he would never lose it, sell it or anything.

We finally were able to break the conversation and make it out to the car, while he stood there like he had something else to say, but we thought it was best if we left him for the night and followed up with him the next day for church.

We prayed that he would answer his phone the following day, and come with us. I personally was a little worried that he would start talking to himself in sacrament, say the F word, or smell so bad people would stare. Courtney was pretty excited about the whole thing, but I wanted to support her with this so I really didn't say anything about bringing someone like this without really preparing them for church.

We woke up early on Sunday morning, prayed again for Michael and called to see if he was still wanting to come. He answered, and said he was still down to come so we drove to Sugarhouse and picked him up. His face looked a little better than the night before, but there was still the smell. I let him use my cologne...Well I can say good bye to the cologne. He literrally probably used about 45 sprays all over his body. There is a tiny bit left, and everytime I where it, Courtney says it smells like Michael. She wants me to throw it away now. :) As we drove to church we talked about his favorite scripture. He said that his favorite was found in 1 Nephi 1:20. He said that the middle part is what he loves most. "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

We asked our friends Halee and Schylar Namanny to save us a seat in the back of the chapel, just in case there was any incidents that happened. He was actually pretty good. We sat in the back, and he was quiet the whole time. He cough weird a few times, and grunted, but overall he was pretty dang good. Afterwards, we went outside to chat a little bit and he said the last speaker was full of SH*^. He said that he didn't think he was sincere. I started laughing so hard because of the way he said it. I wanted to keep talking with him outside, but Courtney wanted to bring him into Sunday School. Flags instantly flew up! I have seen investigators come to classes, and instantly chase the spirit away, and I didn't want that.

What is an illusion? This was the first question of the class. Well Michael instantly rose his hand to answer. The real question is illusion, or delusion...? I swear, after answering like 10 questions, Michael got up and went outside. Courtney was the happiest person at this time. She kept tellingme to take him outside. He is controlling the conversation! The only really weird thing he said was; you're either man, or monkey. Which one are we? He was referring to Christ being real, or an illusion. It actually was quite a relief when he got up and went outside. I followed him of course, and Courtney soon followed.

We stood between the outside doors, and the church talking. He kept swearing so Courtney got mad at him, saying that while you are in the doors of the Church you can't swear. He would messup every once in while, but overall did pretty good. We talked about what he really wanted....I want a big thing of weed. I just want to get high right now. After a few chuckles, Courtney with her stern face said, Michael! That is your temporal desire, but what do you want out of life. When you look back at your life, are you going to be happy with the way you are living now, or happy that you changed, found a job, started coming back to church, etc...He said it didn't matter, because he believes that God will judge him accordingly, and whatever kingdom he was placed, would be better than now.

We decided instead of waiting another hour, that we take him out to eat. We drove to the Wendy's in Sugarhouse and ordered food. We told him to get anything he wanted, and of course the Baconaider was what he wanted. The most expensive meal up there. haha At lunch, wetalked more about church and him meeting with the missionaries. We told him that we would let the missionaries know about him, and that he has a desire to go back to church. We told him that the church could help him get out of the place he is in. He kept saying that he can't find a job when he is sleeping under a pine tree. We told him that people have changed in worse conditions, and he can be one of them. After lunch he wanted us to drop him off at the Aquatic center to shower. We gave him 3 dollars in change to go and take a shower, and also gave him a bag of food. Top roman, canned fruit, etc... He was very grateful for all that we did for him, and walked up the steps.

This was an experience that we will never forget. We couldn't afterwards, because of the smell in the car and the fact that every time I put on my cologne, it reminds Courtney of him. I had to sell my cologne to Courtney's brother because it bothered her so bad. haha :) We pray that he can find his way, meet with the missionaries and continue to run into people that are willing to lend a helping hand. All we could think of were the scriptures referring to giving to people in need, and if we don't then we aren't his. Or the kingdom will be according to your actions.

We are grateful to have met Michael! PLEASE READ THE BOOK OF MORMON, AND MEET WITH THE MISSIONARIES.

Dealing with Anger and Contention

He Said: (All the big font are my words, and all the small font is copied from the article)

First off, if you can for sure read the story mid to half way down the post it would be awesome. More than anything else, I think it would be good to read and see how we would react.

So lately I have been really short and angry with Courtney. Little things are setting me off, which never used to so I thought for today's study I would read an article about anger from the church's website. The talk I read tonight was in the September 1988 Ensign.

I am going to reference this article quite a bit in writings tonight because I feel like there is a lot of information that I see wisdom in.

First off I would like to apologize to my wife for ever getting mad at her about things that aren't important. Today after my basketball game we got in a disagreement about when we should come home from our vacation this weekend(fyi, our fights aren't screaming and yelling. Most of the time we just don't agree and act like babies till the other one gives in). Well we got out of the car and were on good terms. Oh ya...when I pulled into the garage she yelled at me to help grandpa change the light in the garage, because he fell off the ladder trying to change it earlier in the week. This was the first time I have heard of this happening, and didn't know it needed to be changed. She yelled it as more of statement-not a getting mad at me yell. Well, I kept nagging at the fact she yelled it, when she could of asked nicely. We were mad so I poured water on her before we walked in the house (it was funny, right? She was mad because she was all wet, when I was trying to ease the tension by having fun).

I handled the situation earlier all wrong. First off, I should of just said "yes hun." Happy wife = happy life! Well I handled it wrong and am trying to learn from it. I don't know why I have been so short lately, but I want to stop. I want to get back to the way things were in Hawaii, and just enjoy life STRESS AND WORRY FREE!!!

Here are a few ways we can handle our anger, and work on them (these are all from the talk).

1. 1.

   In what ways do we surrender a significant part of our agency to another person or to circumstances when we get angry?

2. 2.

   How do we cultivate an accusing attitude when we look for someone or something else to blame for our negative feelings?

3. 3.

   How is a bond of respect and trust built when anger is replaced by charity?

1. 1.

   Can we agree that being angry is a choice we make, not a response that can’t be controlled?

2. 2.

   How can our family make a united effort to abandon anger, to give it up like other bad habits?

3. 3.

   Can we ask for help during family and individual prayers to have better feelings for one another so that feelings of love and respect can replace contention and anger

   ?

4. 
   

I like this saying by President Woodruff:

“I made up my mind years ago to be governed by certain principles. I resolved that I would never be controlled by my passions … nor by anger, but that I would govern myself. This resolution I have endeavored to carry out in my life.” (Matthias Cowley, Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964, p. 397.)

I need to have more faith that I can have the strength not to get mad, and call upon the blessings that have been promised to me from the scriptures.

Harmony in the home can increase when we ask the Lord in both our family and personal prayers to help us see each other differently and control our negative feelings. If we humbly acknowledge our weaknesses before the Lord and ask him to help us overcome them, our humility and faith in him will “make weak things become strong.” (Ether 12:27.)

I think these steps are some very important ones!!!

First-aid for anger may include the following:

1. 1.

   Avoid reacting with anger when a child explodes in a tantrum. But if you do become angry, let your feelings subside before disciplining the child. Do something to let off steam, like taking a walk around the block or putting the offender in a designated “timeout place” until you cool down.

2. 2.

   If your child is angry, decline to give in to his angry demands until he finds a better way to handle his emotions.

3. 3.

   Ignore a child’s outburst, but not his feelings. Acknowledging a child’s feelings assures him that you care and allows him to see you as part of his recovery rather than as his enemy.

4. 4.

   If children are very young, try distracting them. Distraction may help the child forget his anger and give you time to deal with the root of the problem at a better time

   .

I think this example is a good example. After reading this example, think about how you would react to the situation. I hope we can say we could be like Ann, but I know I would probably get mad. I need to react to things better!!!

Consider an example:

Ann had just finished straightening the living room in preparation for guests who would arrive in an hour. As she walked back into the room, she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Right in the middle of her perfectly cleaned room, four-year-old Elizabeth had dumped the contents of the vacuum, spreading a filthy dust pile nearly three feet wide in front of the fireplace. She was looking up at her mother with a helpless expression.

“What are you doing?” were the first, almost automatic words that escaped from Ann’s lips.

“I don’t know!” cried the frustrated child, knowing that her mother had reason to be angry.

Her words suddenly made Ann see the situation from her daughter’s perspective. Her anger vanished as she realized that Elizabeth had watched her preparing the room for guests and had known that vacuuming the room was a usual part of her mother’s preparations. So she had attempted to help. Somehow, though, as she dragged the vacuum into the room, the bag had come loose on the floor.

When Ann saw the situation from her daughter’s point of view, her initial feelings of anger melted into understanding. Without pretense, Ann was able to scoop Elizabeth up in her arms and say, “Thank you for helping me with this big job. I appreciate you very, very much. Can you help me put that dirt back in the vacuum so we can finish this job together?”

Recalling the incident, Ann says, “As upset as I was, I was able to see through my false desire to control Elizabeth and recognize that she had been trying to help me. That recognition softened my heart, and I responded the way I would like to always.”

No amount of anger would have cleaned the mess up any sooner, nor would the child have learned through a demonstration of anger any worthwhile lesson that would prevent future accidents. But if the parent had responded in anger, what the child would have learned was that angeris the appropriate response in this situation.

Here are just some random pastes from the text that I thought were good while reading.

Burton Kelly, however, points out that emotional responses like anger are actually choices that we make. “For us to feel emotion,” he writes, “we must first be aware of some stimulus—an event, a thought, a memory. Then we interpret that stimulus—and that’s when the emotional response comes. Our interpretation can be relatively positive, neutral, or negative.” (Ensign, Feb. 1980, p. 9.) The stimulus itself has no inherent emotional charge; the emotion comes from within us because of how we choose or are conditioned to see the stimulus.

“Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.” (3 Ne. 11: 28–30

Elder Dallin H. Oaks offers a helpful insight about how we can use prayer to avoid anger and govern our undesirable feelings: “My widowed mother understood this principle. ‘Pray about your feelings,’ she used to say. She taught her three children to pray for the right kind of feelings about their experiences—positive or negative—and about the people they knew. If our feelings are good, we are more likely to have appropriate desires, to take right actions, and to act for the right reasons.” (Pure in Heart, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988, p. 150.)

Acts Chapters 8 & 9

She said:

I just finished studying chapters 8 & 9 in the book of Acts. There are a few different stories that stood out to me.

1. First is in chapter 8. In verses 9-25 it tells a story of a man named Simon who used sorcery to bewitch the people of Samaria into believing he was some great one. But, a disciple of the Lord, Phillip, came to Samaria and preached of Christ and caused that the peoples hearts were changed and they were baptized. Simon was also baptized. Then came Peter and John, apostles of the Lord, to give the gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands.

18And when Simon saw that through ^alaying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

19Saying, Give me also this ^apower, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

20But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the ^agift of God may be ^bpurchased with money.

21Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not ^aright in the sight of God.

22Repent therefore of this thy ^awickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the ^bthought of thine ^cheart may be forgiven thee.

23For I perceive that thou art in the ^agall of bitterness, and in the ^bbond of iniquity.

24Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

This story stood out to me because so much of what we have in the world today can be bought with money, yet money cannot buy spiritual gifts or powers. One may buy land, apparel, jewels, food and other tangible items used for living. Money may sadly also be used to buy peoples integrity and character as people forfeit their values for bribes of money. However, the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be bought with money. One cannot inherit the Kingdom of God for a price of money. It has to be a conversion of the heart.

2. The second story that stood out to me was also in chapter 8 verses 29 & 30.

29Then the ^aSpirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

30And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

What I like about this story is Philips ability to first, hear the promptings of the spirit (which requires righteous living) and second, to follow through with the prompting (to put it into action).

3. The third story comes from chapter 9. For a brief background, there is a man named Saul, who has been out and about persecuting the saints and breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. While on the road to Damascus he hears the voice of the Lord and is struck blind.

10¶And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named ^aAnanias; and to him said the Lord in a ^bvision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much ^aevil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a ^achosen vessel unto me, to ^bbear my ^cname before the ^dGentiles, and ^ekings, and the children of Israel:

16For I will shew him how great things he must ^asuffer for my name’s sake

What I like about this story is Ananias's ability to show obedience and faith in a time of fear. He is told by the Lord that he should go unto Saul and give him back his sight. Yet, Ananias knows that Saul has done evil to the saints at Jerusalem and that he also has the authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon the name of the Lord. So, naturally he has fear for his life because of this man. However, he has faith in the Lord and trusts his word and is obedient to his call.

17And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his ^ahands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that ^bappeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath ^csent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the ^dHoly Ghost.

18And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received ^asight forthwith, and arose, and was ^bbaptized.

Waiting on the Road to Damascus

He Said:

This coming Sunday I get the chance to teach President Uchtdorfs General Conference message, "Waiting on the Road to Damascus." The past few days I have been thinking about how I can teach this in Priesthood meeting. The main themes are, "Belief comes one step at a time, hearken the heed, serve, share and our road to Damascus."

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR THIS MAKE A COMMENT :)

Hearken the heed section

I am going use the story about Prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

Once while President Monson was on assignment in Louisiana, a stake president asked him if he would have time to visit a 10-year-old girl named Christal, who was in the final stages of cancer. Christal’s family had been praying that President Monson would come. But their home was far away, and the schedule was so tight that there wasn’t time. So instead, President Monson asked that those who offered prayers during the stake conference include Christal in their prayers. Surely the Lord and the family would understand.

During the Saturday session of the conference, as President Monson stood to speak, the Spirit whispered, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”³

“His notes became a blur. He attempted to pursue the theme of the meeting as outlined, but the name and image of [the little girl] would not leave his mind.”⁴

He listened to the Spirit and rearranged his schedule. Early the next morning, President Monson left the ninety and nine and traveled many miles to be at the bedside of the one.

Once there, he “gazed down upon a child too ill to rise, too weak to speak. Her illness had now rendered her sightless. Deeply touched by the scene and the Spirit of the Lord … , Brother Monson … took the child’s frail hand in his own. ‘Christal,’ he whispered, ‘I am here.’

“With great effort she whispered back, ‘Brother Monson, I just knew you would come.’”⁵

My dear brothers and sisters, let us strive to be among those whom the Lord can rely on to hear His whisperings and respond, as Saul did on hisroad to Damascus, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

Serve

Another reason we sometimes do not recognize the voice of the Lord in our lives is because the revelations of the Spirit may not come directly to us as the answer to our prayers.

Our Father in Heaven expects us to study it out first and then pray for guidance as we seek answers to questions and concerns in our personal lives. We have our Heavenly Father’s assurance that He will hear and answer our prayers. The answer may come through the voice and wisdom of trusted friends and family, the scriptures, and the words of prophets.

It has been my experience that some of the most powerful promptings we receive are not only for our own benefit but also for the benefit of others. If we are thinking only of ourselves, we may miss some of the most powerful spiritual experiences and profound revelations of our lives.

Often, the answer to our prayer does not come while we’re on our knees but while we’re on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By becoming the answer to someone’s prayer, we often find the answer to our own.

Share

In this section I am going to challenge everyone to be missionary members.

Ways we can share our testimony is through: examples, facebook, mormon.org, co-workers and any opportunity that God places before us. We just need to be ready!

Our Road to Damascus

How many of us are waiting on the road to Damascus? Are we waiting for God to answer our prayers, or make life easy for us because we think we need something, pray for something and have faith in something? I personally need to be better about acting on what I pray for and put my faith and action towards the things which the Lord wants.

What is your road to Damascus?

Mosiah 5

He Said:

So this morning I read Mosiah 5. The header to this chapter is: "The saints become the sons and daughters of Christ through faith--They are then called by the name of Christ--King Benjamin exhorts them to be steadfast and immovable in good works."

Verse 7 of today's reading says that because of the covenant which they made, they shall be called the children of Christ.

I pondered this morning about what the covenants were that these people took upon their heads, and the first few verses of the chapter talked about how the words that King Benjamin spoke, brought a mighty change upon the people and they could feel that infinite goodness, as well as feel the manifestation of the spirit.

I tried to relate the things which the people heard into our day and age. Every 6 months we get the opportunity to hear our Prophet and Apostles speak to us in Conference. What a joyous time it is to receive council, comfort and that infinite goodness from God. The times have not changed that we can't be like the people of King Benjamin s day, and have that great manifestation come upon us.

How often do we have the spirit bear witness that what is being taught at conference is true and that we need to follow what is being taught, and then shortly afterwards not apply the things which we just covenanted in doing by saying AMEN? I know I am a huge hypocrite in that regard! I feel those promptings every time and learn what I need to and receive motivation to be more obedient, serve more faithfully, pray more often and do the little things more but as I let the natural man come in, those things slowly become a blur and those covenants I made are being broken.

I am grateful for the Atonement, because if it wasn't for the Atonement the gates of Hell would have swallowed me alive a long time ago! I am so happy that I live in a day and age where technology is at my fingertips. I can only imagine what life would of been like if I couldn't get on the computer and log onto LDS.ORG, GMAIL, FACEBOOK and other sites that are here for our benefit. The gospel is so easy to access nowadays and I personally take it for granted. We can easily listen to a quick talk while driving to work because of iPods, smartphones and other devices. We can easily access and receive that manifestation of his spirit as states in verse 3.

I challenge myself, and anyone reading this blog post to let God into your daily lives. I know we can become so overwhelmed with work, school, family and children, church callings, sports and any other leisure activity that we might have, but let's make a constant effort to let the spirit manifest truth to us daily by walking on higher ground. I have committed myself to post on this blog daily, and this week am doing pretty darn good if I say so! I usually study the scriptures and ensign before I go to work, and record my thoughts on this blog before I go to bed. I have noticed a difference in my life. Let's try and make time for God each day, no matter how small it is. If we only have 5 minutes between classes, on the way to work, or a lunch break let's jump on the internet and listen to a conference talk, read an article on the church website, or read a passage of scripture.

I promise if we do this the adversaries control over us will weaken, and his power on earth won't be as strong! Let's do it!

Start Moving

She said:

Well, it's about time I start writing again. It's so easy to forget all about something when the rush of life hits you and your priorities become jumbled. I'm so grateful for my husband Garrett and his example. We had a great talk on Saturday night about our priorities and making sure we do regular scripture study and prayer and Garrett has been such a good example to me for the past few days about doing both of those things. :)

In my recent study I read an article from the Ensign titled, Start Moving, by Elder Von G. Keetch. I would like to summarize his words. He tells a story of smoke jumpers (men and women who fight forest fires by parachuting onto the ground above fire and fighting it from the top down while others fight from below). During one assignment an elite team was assembled for a briefing before jumping out of the airplane. The dispatcher told the jumpers that the fire was very volatile so he could not give them precise instructions, rather they should contact him by radio once they had parachuted onto the ridge. Once there he would give them instructions on how to fight the fire.

The team landed and followed instructions; they called the dispatcher but there was no signal, only static. Assuming the dispatcher was busy with other tasks they waited and tried again. Five minutes passed with nothing. The group conferred with each other. They could see multiple paths down the mountain that they could take, however they were concerned they didn't have direction from the dispatcher and were worried they would go down the wrong path. So, they decided to wait. Soon minutes turned into hours. They were frustrated. Why wasn't the dispatcher paying attention to them? During their wait time they consistently tried to contact the dispatcher, but there was no answer. If he would just tell them the path to take they would happily go. He said he would give them instructions.

Finally, after the group had eaten lunch and rested on their packs for 7 hours, they made contact with someone. It was a crew chief from the group fighting the fire below. He was shocked that the group was just sitting there and that they hadn't been helping. The lead smoke jumper explained that they were waiting on instructions from the dispatcher, but that they hadn't been able to reach him. They had been vigilant in trying to contact him, but they only got static. The crew chief took the radio from the jumpers and walked 50 yards down one of the paths and called the dispatcher. The dispatchers voice came in loud and clear. He then walked back to the ridge and down another path and called the dispatcher. Again the voice came back loud and clear. The crew chief hiked back to the smoke jumpers and said, "You are in a dead spot. All you had to do was start moving down one of the trails and the dispatcher could have given you course corrections and brought you to the the right spot where we needed you".

Elder Keetch goes on to relate this story to times when we are in spiritual dead spots. We sometimes acts as the smoke jumpers did. When we are in unfamiliar territory and have several paths to choose from we wait for our spiritual dispatcher, Heavenly Father, to tell us what path to choose. President Packer teaches that, "We are expected to use the light and knowledge we already possess to work out our lives. We should not need a revelation to instruct us to be up and about our duty for we have been told to do that already in the scriptures; nor should we expect revelation to replace the spiritual or temporal intelligence which we have already received. We must go about our life in an ordinary, workaday way, following the routines and rules and regulations that govern life".

Elder Keech teaches that as we press forward along the path we have chosen, we are in a better position to receive course corrections the Lord may have for us. But, if we just plop down on the ridge we may find ourselves in a spiritual dead spot. He testifies that the best and clearest direction comes now when we are just waiting for Heavenly Father to send us help and guidance, but when we are anxiously engaged. His challenge is this: Prayerfully and carefully use your own intelligence and your own resources to choose a path that seems right to you. Then become anxiously engaged in walking that path. When the time for course correction comes, He will be there to help you and to guide you.

I was really grateful for this article! I know that I needed it. Since moving back from Hawaii and starting a new chapter of our lives in Utah Garrett and I have so many paths to choose from. From apartments to jobs to cars and so forth. We are basically changing everything about our lives and it has been so difficult for me to make choices about what to do. I find myself looking on ksl or craigslist everyday for apartments and cars only to end the day with no results. I keep waiting to get an answer about what we should do. Where we should move, how many cars we should have, what loans we should take out for school, and so many other things.

I am grateful for this article because it reminded me that God loves me, but wants me to take charge of my life and actively make my own choices. While he does listen to my repeated prayers, he first expects me to use my intelligence and make the best choice I can. If I do head down the wrong path He will correct me and help me see which path I should be on.

My faith is strengthened and I have a new hope for the future. While I am still unsure about all the choices I have to make in the near future, I know that I need to take action and I will be guided as a do so.