Like I said before I am merging my two blogs. So....here it is...
JANUARY 6TH 2013
After my meeting with the bishop this morning I had 30 minutes to kill until sacrament meeting so I decided to read my scriptures. Today I finished 3 Nephi! I started reading the Book of Mormon around October of last year and once I finish it will be the first time reading it all the way through so this is a pretty exciting thing! Yay!
Here are my thoughts on 3 Nephi 21-29
To start, I absolutely love reading about the Savior visiting the Americas. I also absolutely love this picture:
I love all of things that Christ did for us. He healed the sick and hurt. He blessed the little children and us and made it so that we are able to repent for our sins. He is such an important person in the plan of salvation. I love that he came back to the world after resurrection. I love his selflessness. He is such a great example of service and humility to me.
Another great thing about the end of 3 Nephi was the explaination of the Plan of Salvation in chapter 27.
13 Behold I have given unto you my agospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the bwill of my Father, because my Father sent me.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be alifted up upon the bcross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the ccross, that I might ddraw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be ejudged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—
15 And for this cause have I been alifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their bworks.
16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso arepenteth and is baptized in my bname shall be filled; and if he cendureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.
17 And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the ajustice of the Father.
18 And this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men. And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.
19 And ano unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his brest save it be those who have cwashed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
20 Now this is the commandment: aRepent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be bbaptized in my name, that ye may be csanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand dspotless before me at the last day.
21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my agospel; and ye know the things that ye must bdo in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;
I am so excited that I have the option to live in the celestial kingdom if I work hard enough in this life. I was watching the season finale of Lost with my roommate Collette. In the end, Jack (who is now dead) is reunited with all of his friends and his father as spirits. I cannot even imagine that day, returning to heaven and being reunited with EVERYBODY. Including my father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. And then I will get to raise a kingdom of my own. That is going to be incredible. I am so thankful for that knowledge that the spirit and gospel has given me.
Well those were my main thoughts. On to 4 Nephi!
Love
Kenna
JANUARY 9TH 2013
So I am really glad that I had the inspiration to keep up with this journal beforehand because as it turns out for my Mission Prep class I am supposed to keep a scripture journal! So YAY, more motivation to record my impressions daily.
So need to make this quick, but today I read the Mission Preparation manual and the Joseph Smith Restoration Manual. These are amazing textbooks.
The Joseph Smith manual was a lot like American heritage at BYU. It talked about how the Americas were prepared for the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ through inspired revolutionists, leaders, and reformers. It had a lot of interesting perspectives about the world before the restoration. It strengthened my testimony in the gospel tremendously.
Another text is the Mission Preparation Manual
My homework was to read the first chapter of this manual: Called to Serve. It started out quoting a lot of general authorities about missionary work. One quote really stuck out to me:
"To you who will accept the call to go forth and serve, I can promise you that your good name will never be forgotten in this world or in the eternities to come. So again we issue this clarion call that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers in increased numbers, for the field is white, all ready to harvest."
--Elder L. Tom Perry.
There are two reasons why this quote is so true and awesome.
1. I love the part about how our names will never be forgotten if we help the Lord spread His gospel. I am sure that those who we introduce and convert into the gospel will be forever grateful in the eternities to come because we are the ones who showed them the way to live with God and their families again.
2. The last part he said about there being more laborers has come true! After the mission call announcement there are SOOOO many more missionaries that are going out into the field. It is awesome. I am so glad that our leaders have received the inspiration to lower the age changed because SO many lives will be and have already been affected by the gospel in their lives.
On a last note, today I finished my papers for my mission. My passport came in. All I need to do is go to the stake president to submit everything. It is such an exciting time in the history of the church and my life. :)
I know the church is true with all of my heart.
Love, Kenna
JANUARY 18TH 2013
First in Ether 12:5-22
5 And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they asaw them not.
6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that afaith is things which are bhoped for and cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no dwitness until after the etrial of your faith.
7 For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him; wherefore, it must needs be that some had faith in him, for he showed himself anot unto the world.
8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.
11 Wherefore, by faith was the law of Moses given. But in the agift of his Son hath God prepared a more bexcellent way; and it is by faith that it hath been fulfilled.
12 For if there be no afaith among the children of men God can do no bmiracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the achange upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the bHoly Ghost.
15 Behold, it was the faith of aAmmon and his brethren which bwrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.
16 Yea, and even all they who wrought amiracles wrought them by bfaith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.
17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should anot taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith.
18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.
19 And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even abefore Christ came, who could not be kept from within the bveil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad.
20 And behold, we have seen in this record that one of these was the brother of Jared; for so great was his faith in God, that when God put forth his afinger he could not hide it from the sight of the brother of Jared, because of his word which he had spoken unto him, which word he had obtained by faith.
21 And after the brother of Jared had beheld the finger of the Lord, because of the apromise which the brother of Jared had obtained by faith, the Lord could not withhold anything from his sight; wherefore he showed him all things, for he could no longer be kept without the bveil.
22 And it is by faith that my fathers have obtained the apromise that these things should come unto their brethren through the Gentiles; therefore the Lord hath commanded me, yea, even Jesus Christ.
Faith is one of the most important compnents of religion or pretty much anything, because without faith you would have no belief system whatsoever. My definition of faith is to believe in something without a seeing or having physical proof of something. When I think about what faith has done in the world, I think about this chapter. Obviously, faith is the key to doing all things as evident by the prophets of old described in the verses I shared. Currently faith is very important in my life pertaining to my mission call. Two things come to mind...I need to have faith in the first presidency because they are the ones who will be in tune with the spirit so that they may have it recealed to them where I am to go on my mission. I also need to have faith in myself. There are a lot of feelings that come along with going on a mission: anxiety, doubt, maybe even fear...but I MUST remain faithful in order to keep motivation to do the things that I need to do on my mission. If I do so, I will be able to all things as the prophets of old have done.
A second verse that stuck out to me was in Ether 15:19
19 But behold, the aSpirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and bSatan had full power over the chearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.
I testify that Satan is a real spirit because I have felt his influence multiple times in my life. After meeting with the bishop 2 months ago about going on a mission he told me, "I just want you to know, from here on out Satan is going to do whatever he can to tempt you and make you change your mind about going on a mission. He will do anything to prevent the spread of the gospel." This really scared me at first, but later I shrugged it off. However, recently I have looked back and realized that there have been A LOT of times in these past 2 months where Satan has had a real hold on my heart. Have you noticed that I havent written in this blog for the past week or so? It is because I have been lacking on my scripture reading. Every day it is the same struggle to read my scriptures. I am supposed to be reading 30 mins a day and recording my thoughts. But every day the moment I begin to consider reading my scriptures a dark voice comes in my head..."Not tonight, McKenna...another day." I have fallen into this procrastinating influence for far too long. I have also had problems with being honest to myself and others. To overcome these tempations and doubts is NOT easy...but it is most certainly and definitely possible. My solution has been to keep my mission in mind, make promises with prayer, and look at life from a eternal perspective. I promise, it is not worth it to let Satan take control of your heart. It will only lead you to regreat and shame.
These things I know to be true
Love,
Kenna
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