What is the purpose?

I propose a question to you all... What is the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Have any of you asked yourself that? And if you haven't... take a minute to think about it. What is the purpose? There are many many people in the world who accept Jesus and His teachings but may not be able to answer this question. I would say it's a pretty important one :) Is the Savior and His gospel merely a crutch? Something to lean on and support us when we feel down or discouraged. Is it just something to belief in so that we can feel comfortable about the questions of our soul? We know that these blessings of comfort really do come from the truth, but I testify that the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is much more! Prayerfully read and ponder this insight from, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, an Apostle of the Lord.

"Our Heavenly Father is a God of high expectations. His expectations for us are expressed by His Son, Jesus Christ, in these words: 'I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect'. He proposes to make us holy so that we may 'abide a celestial glory' and 'dwell in his presence'. He knows what is required, and so, to make our transformation possible, He provides His commandments and covenants, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and most important, the Atonement and Resurrection of His Beloved Son. In all of this, God's purpose is that we, His children, may be able to experience ultimate joy, to be with Him eternally, and to become even as He is... The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become."

Doesn't that make so much sense? So what is the purpose of the gospel? It is a gospel of transformation! The center of the Gospel is Christ's sacrafice, His atonment, which allows us to be cleansed, purified, and transformed as we live His teachings. The covenants and commandments that he gives us are for our growth and development to become more like Christ. The Saviors message is not just one of apathetic belief and not just something to help us feel good about ourselves. In fact, in the scriptures, He doesn't only ask for our commitment, but for our very lives. His message is truly the 'pearl of great price' because it helps us fill our potential. He died for us because He loved us. He taught us because He loves us. And because the Savior loves us He asks us to not only to belief, but to become.

So now... here comes my invitation to anyone who reads this :) I knew you were waiting for it. Prayerfully think of what you want to develop and become- maybe it's strengthening your faith or patience, maybe it's being a better mother or brother- whatever the case I'm sure it's great. Now remember... a to be list without a to do list is just a wish list. So identify specefic things that you can do to become a better person and then do it! I promise that as you do this you will be living the Gospel of Jesus Christ; you will be living your purpose.

You can do hard things!

I promise to everyone within the sound of my voice-or more correctly the words of this text ;)- that you can do hard things!! My mission is getting closer to its end and I have been pondering recently about all of the hard things that I have had to do on my mission and throughout my life. Many of them have been very hard, maybe not as hard as you, but they were hard enough that I didn't know if I could do them at first. But I can testify that "whom the Lord calls, He qualifies". He will not ask you to do something that you cannot do-that is too hard. So please do two things for me. The first: go to this talk "Waiting on the Road to Damascus" and read it. The second: think about something that deep down you know is right and true but is hard to do, and have faith and do it :) I promise the Lord will walk with you and help you on your journey of more closely following Him.

A Shout Out to all those Mothers in the World

Yesterday, I, along with about ten other fellow missionaries met with our mission president and wife at their home here in New York. We talked about Christlike Leadership and how we can better move the gospel forward. . . But we decided to spice up the day a little bit and come up with a song to thank all of our moms at home and mother figures out here on our mission. These are the words.

"Mothers Day... It's such a beautiful day day day.

The Day is all about you... Not!

It's all about our mothers, our moms, our mommies, our mummies.

Mothers Day... It is the Day we co-mme-merate

all the mission moms... You're great,

thank you for all that you do...

And we will love to serve you.

Adjectives about our mothers are amazing, smiley, happy, loving, caring, classy, thrifty, great!

We love you... Thank you for all that you do!"

Well anyways we performed to many of our mother figures out here on our missions and it was a lot of fun. But I want to thank all of the mothers out there for their commitment, love, and sacrafice to their families. I will forever be grateful to my mom. Wow she is the greatest person God created :) I don't know if you good mothers will every truly realize the impact you make on the world. We truly do love you... and thank you for all that you do. Happy Mothers Day!!!

(I tried to upload the video of our song but it didn't work.... will try again soon!)