"Is there a better way to spend November 6th?"

I don't have too much time so this will have to be a short post.  I saw this facebook event "Is There a Better Way to Spend November 6th?" that is very inspirational and shows how easy it is to spread the gospel.  The scriptures are all about unity.  When people work together things happen.  This event is going to help us work together so others can see real testimonies.  The bearing of a testimony is the greatest missionary tool.  The people who created that event named it very well.  What better way to spend your day than to tell others about what is most important to you.  It isn't a hard thing either.  If necessary you could do it in only one sentence.  A good example of how easy it is to share the gospel is the new Mormon.org site.  It lets people make their own profile about why they are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Many of them start with only the persons name and then "I am a Mormon".  How simple and profound of a testimony is that?  It is a declaration that we are followers of Jesus Christ and that we are not ashamed.  (Romans 1:16)  I hope that everyone will become part of this event to help others come unto Christ.  Sharing the gospel online works. 
A few days ago I heard a story of a family in my mission (Connecticut Hartford) who is going to be baptized soon.  They found out everything about the church because of the internet and people they didn't know.  They came across Mormon.org and looked into it.  They were able to have all their questions answered by people who were using a little time to share the gospel.  They got in contact with some members in the area who invited them to church.  They were then able to find out all they needed about what church was like (once again through complete strangers) and were prepared when they went.
It is a miracle what technology can do for missionary work.  I hope that as I get this blog going I will be able to help people to learn about Jesus Christ and follow his example.  Whether I ever meet them isn't the important thing.
So my challenge to you is to become part of this event and spend November 6th, as well as every other day :), sharing your testimony.  I don't think there is a better way to spend November 6th.

Sunny Hours

Last week we were in Derby, CT and outside the library was this sun dial.  I thought the inscription on the top carries a great message.  That is what I want to write about today.  Counting the sunny hours.  This has a lot to do with my last entry about hope.  The message of this sun dial is to have hope that the sunny times will come and also not to miss them.  A lot of the time we are spending so much talking about how good it is that nothing bad is happening that we miss the opportunity to enjoy and be grateful for the good that is happening.  This brings to mind the hymn " Count Your Blessings".  Not focusing on the bad isn't what makes us happy, focusing on the good brings happiness.  I think we all know this but sometimes it can be very hard to do.  It is one of those things that takes time and we have to get in the habit of it.  When we are in the thick of those times that don't seem sunny at all, we have to keep that hope.  This video with Jeffrey R. Holland says it much better than I could.  (I also really like it because it takes place near my hometown and I get to see a little bit of where I grew up) Good Things to Come.  It took a while before everything worked out in that video, lots of persistence and work.  We need that opposition to enjoy the sunny hours and to have true gratitude for what we have.  2 Nephi 2:11  
I hope everyone enjoys and "counts none but the sunny hours".

Starting

So I am trying to get this blog going and I am having a very difficult time doing it.  I have been trying to figure out what to do for a few days now and couldn't really figure it out.  I finally came to the conclusion that I simply had to start.  So I put a couple of things together and it started working out.  I was trying to figure what to do for my first post and decide I might as well do it on starting.

This week we had a meeting with some other missionaries and were talking about Faith and Hope and why they are so connected.  I believe that Hope is what makes you act, you hope that you will be able to reach your goal (I hoped that I would be able to make a blog).  So once you have Hope you use it to motivate you to have Faith.  I had Faith by starting and actually doing something to get this blog going.  Once I started going I saw the results of my Faith, my Hope was becoming a reality, so then I was even more motivated to keep going, always keeping the Hope of what I wanted in mind.

I went to our church website and I just searched for anything with the word "starting".  I was surprised, there were over 12,000 results.  I picked one of the first ones and found "The Important Thing Is to Start".  It is a fictional story that shows how Joyce, a teenage girl, exercised her Faith to start her family on the path to having food storage.  Check it out.  It really puts this principle in a very realistic situation.

 

A story often used to emphasize action as part of Faith comes from  Joshua chapter 3 in the Old Testament.  The people of Israel are supposed to cross the river Jordan but God doesn't clear the path first.  It isn't until after the priests step into the water that the way is opened for them to cross on dry ground.  We "receive no witness until after the trial of [our] faith."  A few days ago I was looking in my study journal and I read that Faith is trust enough to act.  President Henry B. Eyring's talk in the recent general conference really showed the truth of this.  I love the title of his talk: Trust in God, Then Go and Do.  We need to trust God's guidance, whether we receive it through the scriptures, the prophet, or whatever, enough to Go and Do.  Once we start using our Faith we will be able to see fruit. 

So I am going to exercise my Faith and start this blog.  I Hope that I will be able to see it all work out.