Kia Ora

Kia Ora,

An interesting week this was. Spent heaps of it in Whangarei or in Auckland and not in my area. Sweet as right? Yup, had a Mission Conference with the Area Presidency and Elder Holstrom(?) of the Presidency of the Seventy. That was just mean!! 

Elder Holstrom gave this powerful discussion on Personal Study, and how that is the time where we can dedicate an hour to learning from the Lord. If we come in with a prayerful question, we will receive enlightenment. Powerful message and I tried it out soon afterwards. 

In that study I remember going over in Matthew that Jesus tells them to come to all you who labour and are heavy and they would find rest for his yoke is easy and light; I like that it was good, but then in Mark Christ says to forget yourself, pick your cross, and follow him. Now those sound like some opposites to me, so I was really thinking what he was trying to mean with all of that. That was my question one morning, I wanted to know what he meant between those two sayings. I went into the Book of Mormon and read Alma 42 and I was just getting a little bit more confused. Not too sure what the Lord was trying to tell me at that time, other than maybe Justice and Mercy and an Eternal punishment is affixed to our lives here. . . Some dark stuff, but then a phrase used by my Zone Leader during a Trade-Off with him stuck out in my mind. Magnify. That word took me to the Book of Joshua in chapter 3 verse 7: And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." 

That one really got me thinking, why would I have been led to that scripture. It took me heaps of pondering but what I came up with, which probably isn't at all correct, is that we have our agency. It is a gift that has been provided to us since the foundation of eternity. It has been one of the moste precious gifts that our Father has given us and has been ours from the beginning. We said yes to our lives here during this mortality, because we knew that we could do it. Now that did include forgetting ourselves and picking up the cross of mortality. All of the faults of this imperfect life in this imperfect world were, we called that our cross and we said that we would carry that. Christ knew that we would forget that, so he threw in a reminder in the Book of Mark. Now he also knew that because we would never be able to carry our cross without stumbling along and letting one side of it carry us off of the path, the Atonement became the necessary sacrifice. Its infinence was what would give us the power, strength, will, motivation, the everything that we would need to get back on the path and as part of the loving nature that Christ possesses he said that he would pick up part of that cross with us. He would guide us back onto the path and walk with us forevermore. I love him. So much. This imperfect language has the tendency to restrict our true thoughts and feelings to come out, but I am so grateful for his sacrifice. I know that he lives, there is no way that anything else would motivate me, the least of them, to achieve something greater than what I am. Whom else could drive men to actually achieve their highest potential. Not to a lesser god, but be Heirs of God and join-heirs with Chrsit.

 

Anyways, the rest of my week was good. Elder Fitzsimmons is training, so our companionship is coming to a close. This upcoming Wednesday we will receive a call telling us who is going where. I am most likely leaving, but I am not too sure.  Also I have become fairly close with Elder McKeon (Mc-u-in) from Leeds. And if I have done my family history correctly, we are actually related through our lines back to the Campbells! Mean, right!? Not too much else to say this week, but next week I may be in a new area of New Zealand!

Kakite Ano,

Matua Roa

Elder Long