His touch can heal all.

The other day I read the familiar story of Christ healing the blind man found in John chapter 9. I began to think how amazing it is that this man who once could not see now could. I began to think how this story could relate to my life. 
As we see, when Christ was out with His disciples they came to a man who was blind.They asked if this man had sinned, or his parents, to cause this man to be born blind? Christ answered their question when he said, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." 
Then Christ put clay on his eyes and told him to go and wash in a pool of water. And as he did it says "He...washed, and came seeing. " 
As we take this lesson into our lives, we see that as we go through trials and hard times it is not because we have done something wrong, but that the Lord help us become the type of  person He knows we can be. Trials that happen in our lives are there to help us and others come closer to Christ. But when we start to think "why me?" or " why must I go through this?",  that is when we need to turn to Christ and ask him to touch our eyes. He may anointed our eyes with the clay (humility), and ask us to go and wash (cleans ourselves in the atonement). 
As we see in this video of the trials Joseph Smith that great things came from him enduring. 

As we learn to look at our trials as chances to grow we can benefit more then ever. I know that trials are never fun, but they are the way we can become stronger and grow closer to Christ. :) 

The women in our lives. :)

With Christmas around I can not help but think about the love of the savior that I felt thought in all my past Christmases. I see now as I have begone to grow that the spirit of the savior always shown though my mother! Though I was young and stubborn someday,  she always made the best Christmas. Just with that thought I wanted to give a shout to my mother and along with all the other women and say thank you for keeping the spirit of Christ in this season. But to many times the world tries to diminish  the role of womanhood. Please always stay strong! Please always stand for what is right. Just as we see the love Mary had for the savior , we can see in our own lives just how amazing women are!

So Check out this clip on how amazing women are!

And when times get hard this turn to the Lord. Check out this video.

Thank you all the women in my lives and all of you around this world! You truly do help show the Lord's spirit     though your action. Thank you.

It's all on the line.

As We passed in the ball they yelled out the score "21-20, win by two". After a couple of missed shots and turn over by both teams, the ball was finally ours again. We were passing it around the top of the key trying to work it in down low. They passed to me and no one was open. But I was open just long enough to take the shot. "Swish"! Game winning three pointer! The team was ecstatic. On my way home with my dad he told me how proud he was of me and how glad he was to see me having so much fun. Then he added some words of advise to me. "That was a good shot, but don't trust in that. You know you are better with in 15 feet."

Just this passed week I see the lesson my dad was trying to tell me. Don't trust in things of chance. Yes we may make the game winner shot every once and a while, but that is not what I do consistently. I have see in my own life how often times I see people try and push the line, they just to get closer and closer to the edge without seeing it. Just because can get aways with it before does not mean we will be able to get away with it again. As it says in the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi, Chapter 26:22 it says "He (Satan) leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever." So as we continue to push the line awe will soon find ourselves walking in and living behind enemy lines. But just as it took one step to cross over it takes some step to come back. Remember that a flaxen cord is like string or twin. It is easy to break at first, while a strong cord, or chains are hard to break.

I am so thankful for the Savior and for his wonderful gift of the Atonement (when He paying for our sins). Which as we come unto Him, we can break those chains which bind us down! I know as we stay with in bounds, and use the Atonement. That our days will be brighter, our hope and love will be stronger! This is the blessings that comes as we stay with in bounds and don't cross over the line. :)

This is what we are! Christians!

With much of the thing in this world today people have had some questions if members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians. I give my testimony with millions of others that we are Christians. This video is the simple truth. Please watch it.

keep your eyes open!

As I sat in the middle of the field I watched steadily for the arrival of the big buck. With only 30-45 minutes left of light left they finally desired to come out. I scanned over the herd and there he was, the one I wanted. It was an easy shot, only 150 yards away. It was in the bag. Just the year before I had taken a shot from 250 yards away as the deer was moving up hill. I sighted him in my scoop and shot; I missed! I prayed he would not run away, and he didn’t. So I took aim and shot again! I missed again! This pattern happened for another three times. As all this was going on the deer just kept on eating. When the sun finally set we went back to the car. It was one of the most embarrassing times of my life. But as we drove home the memories of my dad’s conversations with me for the pasted four months came flooding back. “Son if you don’t sight in your gun you wont get a deer this year." " But dad I got that deer last year and all I did was sit there, it’s still on.“

This lesson of still retuning ourselves even when we feel we don’t need to is found in James Chapter 2:16-17 “Faith with our works is dead.” As we begin to get comfortable in our ways, with such thoughts as I went to church last week I’m good, or I don’t need to read or pray everyday. Those thoughts will define our choices in the future. As we get set in the mind frame of, I have already done enough, that's when we find out just how far we have really fallen. I know that as we work on the little things and do the practices of prayer, reading, and church, we will be ready for when that buck comes into our sight, and we will be able to get him.

Check your powder.

As the rain began to fall, I sat in the midst of a small group of trees. Hunting season had just opened up the day before and I was awaiting the big buck. As I continually thought about the events of the day I remembered my dad and older brother helping to get me ready for this moment. My dad helped place me where I would be able to to get a deer, and my brother had loaded the black powered gun for me while my dad talked to me. As the rain began to come down more a little group of bucks came out into the field. once they got wit in yards of me, I got in position, took aim, and fired. Nothing! So I replaced the primer, fired again, and nothing once more. I was a little frustrated. Once the sun had set and it was time to go back to the truck we checked the gun. We noticed that we had loaded the pellets in backwards and the fast igniting side was not able to be light.

This experience taught me an interesting lesson, we must make sure we are the one doing the work. We can not trust in other people to get us to heaven. Just like in the parable of the ten virgins. They had all gotten dressed and ready, they had even brought lamps. But only five of them had brought extra oil. We need to understand that today is the day to prepare to put our house in order. We can not wait until the "deer" is in your sights and about to pull the trigger to remember, oh I should probably check my things. As it says in the Book of Mormon in Alma Chapter 34: 32 "today is the time to prepare to meet God." I know that as we check our lives and make sure we are as ready as we can be that great blessings will come. Such blessings of having comfort and directions in our lives. As we study the scriptures and follow modern day prophets the Lord will make sure we are ready for all things.

Well I Did It Isn't That Enough?

As a young boy, I learned a very important lesson that has impacted my life a great deal. I learned that "it's not enough to just do something, you must do it right the first time." My dad told me this many times growing up. This principle was illustrated to me by the trips my dad and I would take during my summers growing up. When we would go bug collecting we would pack a few things; a white sheet, a generator, and light bulbs. We would then go to our predetermined canyon and find an isolated place. Once we were at our destination, we would string the sheet between two trees and hook up the lights. We used two different types of lights, multi-vapor lights and black lights. Depending on what type of moth we were trying to catch, determined what lights or watts were needed to pull them in. After setting everything up, the real work would begin. We would have to keep checking the sheet at different times to see if anything new was on it. My dad would check it about every two or three hours. More times then not there would be something new on the sheet. This may seem like a lot of work to do for some moths, but I learned a great lesson in doing this. I learned that if something is worth it to you, then you must do everything you can to get it. It's not enough to pack up all the gear and not go out. Just like it's not enough to pack up all the gear, go out, and not set it up. We must put everything we have into it.

It is the same as we grow in our own lives. We need to decide how bad we want to come close to Christ. We need to decide if we will be like the man in Matthew Chapter 19, where a rich man came to Christ and asked how to receive eternal life (Matt 19:16). Christ tells him to "keep the commandments". And the man replied I have since my youth. Then Christ extended this invitation. "Then sell all thou hast...and come follow me." (Matt 19:21). At that time the man went away sorrowful. (Matt19:22) What type of man will we be? We must make the choice today. We can not follow Christ only 50%, or even only 90% of the way; we must go all the way. As a missionary, I have seen many people that will meet with us and even pray. However, they are not willing to read continually or go to church. We must be willing to give all of ourselves to know God better and to strengthen our testimonies. Which in turn answer some of the bigger questions such as; is God really there, does He love me, is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the church of God today, does the priesthood have authority from God to act in His name, and is it lead by a prophet of God today? If we want to know these things, we must be willing to do all that we can. Think about it, when Christ was paying for your sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, did he say, "oh wait, the game is on today I can't do it," Or "sorry everyone, it is cutting in to my free time, maybe later." He has given you everything and wants you to be more happy in this life and to be closer to Him. All He asks is for you to pray two times a day (morning and night), read at least 5-10 minutes a day, and to go to church weekly. Can't we give Him our all? For without Him we would be eternally lost! Let us give Him just a little of our time.