The Infinite Atonement

Sisters!

What a great day today was!  We were blessed with awesome talks and stories in Sacrament and then fed and taught well as always in Relief Society!

This month has been so great with all the talking of Christ.  It reminds me of the Scripture, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” 2 Nephi 25:26

Suzann gave us such a visual and heart felt lesson that really turned our thoughts to why WE NEED the Savior and His Atonement. She taught us from the talk by Elder Oaks, “He Lives All Glory to His Name”

“There is an imperative need for each of us to strengthen our understanding of the significance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ so that it will become an unshakable foundation upon which to build our lives. As the world becomes more devoid of foundational standards and as honor, virtue, and purity are increasingly cast aside in the pursuit of appetite, our understanding of and faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ will provide strength and capacity needed for a successful life. It will also bring confidence in times of trial and peace in moments of turmoil.”

I am so thankful to be reminded of my need for the Atonement.  I use it every day, sometimes without even realizing it.  I use it to NOT get offended, I use it to DO HARD THINGS, I use it to make it through dark hours, I use it to repent of my short comings.  It is all encompassing.  I have felt the strength that Jesus Christ provides at the very moment when I thought I might be able to make anymore, he comes through.  At times when I had so much heartbreak, he has brought peace.  At times when I felt like a no good person, a sinner, he has brought forgiveness.  At times when I have felt no one cared the heavy burden I was carrying, He has brought comfort and relief.

One of the quotes that I turn to and think about a lot when I have NEED of the Savior is by Sheri Dew.  She taught, “Jesus Christ is not our last chance, He is our ONLY chance.  He will show us the way because He IS the way!”

Wow, do we EVER need the Savior.  Every hour, every minute, every second!  I am thankful for his Atonement.  I know that he lives and loves us all.  I know that through him and his part of the plan that I can be forgiven, healed and strengthened through this mortal life.  What a blessing that we know this!  I enclosed the song that Suzann shared with us so you can feel that spirit again.  How I love music in lessons, it brings EVERYTHING home!

Love you all!  See you at finish it night on Tuesday!

Meg

Come To Jesus

This week I thought I would share with you a POWERFUL video that helps us keep the thoughts of the Savior more close in our minds this week. I am so thankful for the Atonement which I lean on daily for peace and reassurance in my life.  We are blessed that not only does it cover our OWN sins that it also covers the times we have been sinned against.   May you be able to forgive or make something right in your lives this week.

I would ALSO feel horrible if I didn't give a shout out to all the "FATHER'S" out there who have children of their own, but also those who may help raise those that come in different ways into their lives.  I am the recipient of MUCH love by many Father's in my life!  I have been blessed by their love and their support of me!

Stay cool in this heat!  Love Meg 

Jesus Christ

Sisters,

What a great fast Sunday we had today.  I was touched by testimony and the teachings of the Savior.  It put me in such a great restful mood for my Sunday nap! Hahaha

Today we had an awesome lesson by our darling Michelle Hansen on The Life of the Savior.  It is always so hard to fit so much into such little time and she did it so well. Some of the highlights that we talked about today

· ·         Jesus is the ONLY on earth to be born of a mortal Mother and an immortal Father. This is why he is called The Only Begotten Son. From His Father he inherited divine powers and from His Mother he inherited mortality and was subject to hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain and death.

·         NO ONE could take the Savior’s life from Him unless HE willed it.  He had power to lay it down and power to take up His body again after dying.

·         Jesus taught people much older than them truths and they were astonished at his teachings for he was only a child of 12yrs of age.  When Mary and Joseph questioned him he answered, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:48-49)

·         If we love God, we will trust and obey Him, as Jesus did.  If we love others, we will help them meet their physical and spiritual needs. Jesus spent his life in the service of others.

As I have mentioned before I love that this year is about going back to the basics.  I think it is so important to remember the simple truths of the gospel so that when we are called upon by naysayers we can answer with our testimonies in such a way that they too will be astonished. 

I served my mission in Columbus Ohio.  It is as close to a bible belt as I have ever experienced in my lifetime. 

I was there during the whole process of the temple being built .  Because of the temple coming to Ohio there was A LOT of opposition.  The thing that interested me about the opposition was that many claimed we didn’t believe in the very person our church was named after.  On numerous occasions we were given media referrals (when someone orders the Lamb Of God off a commercial) to which when we arrived to deliver the video we were verbally abused and attacked by an Anti Mormon (who ordered it just to bash with us) on the other side of the door.

One given day we had a referral that we were coming to deliver and were welcomed into the house of what seemed to be a very nice couple’s home.  They opened their door to us and welcomed us in.  Of course as missionaries we were thrilled about this kind of reception.  I was training a new missionary and thought this is a great opportunity to let her take the lead.  I gave her the look and she pulled the video out of her bag and asked them if they had time in which we could watch the video together.  At this time the seemingly kind couple snapped into action and informed us of how wrong we were, how we worshiped Joseph Smith and we weren’t Christian.  They identified themselves as Pastor of the local congregation and wanted to know how we felt good about ourselves to go around LYING to everyone each day.  I could feel the spirit of contention mounting and my companion started to cry.  I rose to my feet and started to excuse ourselves from the home, knowing that no teaching could be done in that kind of hostile environment.

As we approached the patio stairs to leave I had a distinct impression that I needed to ask them if we could leave them with a song.  I walked down another stair and it came to me again.  I was so shocked by this impression cause it was never something I had done before in all 14 months of my mission thus far.    I forced the words out of my mouth and said, “Pastor before we leave could we please leave you with a song?”  He was shocked by my question and said something along the lines like “okay?!”

I looked at my companion and the shocked look in her eyes and opened my mouth and began…

I believe in Christ; he is my King!
With all my heart to him I’ll sing;
I’ll raise my voice in praise and joy,
In grand amens my tongue employ.
I believe in Christ; he is God’s Son.
On earth to dwell his soul did come.
He healed the sick; the dead he raised.
Good works were his; his name be praised.

My companion Sister Miller joined me for the rest of the song.

 I believe in Christ; oh blessed name!
As Mary’s Son he came to reign
’Mid mortal men, his earthly kin,
To save them from the woes of sin.
I believe in Christ, who marked the path,
Who did gain all his Father hath,
Who said to men: “Come, follow me,
That ye, my friends, with God may be.”

I believe in Christ—my Lord, my God!
My feet he plants on gospel sod.
I’ll worship him with all my might;
He is the source of truth and light.
I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.
From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,
And I shall live with joy and love
In his eternal courts above.

I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!
From him I’ll gain my fondest dream;
And while I strive through grief and pain,
His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.”
I believe in Christ; so come what may,
With him I’ll stand in that great day
When on this earth he comes again
To rule among the sons of men.

At the conclusion of the song both my companion and I, Pastor and his wife had tears rolling down our faces. The Pastor than asked if we would pray with them and he offered it.  In that prayer I don’t remember every word but I do remember him thanking God that we corrected his impression of us and that we really were who we claimed to be as his representatives and blessed us to have success at proclaiming his word.

I wish I could report that we ever saw him again, or that he wanted to learn more about what he felt that day, but I can’t.  What I can report is that I knew that HE KNEW that WE BELIEVED in Christ and his ministry and that WE BELIEVED that His loved conquered any bad feelings or contentions that were felt that day.  And regardless of our different denominations and backgrounds we were both able to worship through song together.

Sisters, the love of the Lord does conquer any challenge, any task, any obstacles that we may be facing.  It can be the VERY THING that heals wounds that have been created in family relationships, mends the broken hearts that are caused through sin, and even understand depths of sorrow that no other person in our lives can comprehend. I know that when we turn to the scriptures, the temple, prayer and fasting that WE WILL FIND HIM THERE to comfort and guide us.

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

–John 4:14-

On a Spiritual High from Stake Conference? I am!

Dearest Sisters,

I have SOO much on my mind after our AWESOME Stake Conference I don’t know how to put the thoughts into words!  We were WELL FED!  The first thing I want to express is my LOVE for the Stake RS Sisters that were released today.  I have only been here 6 short months, but in that time I have learned to love Sister Briggs and her presidency.  They are a delight and a BRIGHT shinning example as the beacon of light to the world we all should be!  We love them because they first loved us.  They are surely going to missed.

We learned such great things today from Gong back to the Basics for protection from the Satan, to being a member missionary.  Temples and missionary work being preached on fertile land to the paths that we chose and how they color our existence. And then our dear Stake President taught us that sometimes we need to get off the FAST TRACK and stop and smell the roses, before me miss out on things in life that could teach simple lessons or be memory building moments for our families.

I am going to give you some bullets of the notes I got to take.  Unfortunately by the end of Brother Chapman’s thoughts I was fully immersed in kids and wasn’t able to note take anymore.. but for those of you that weren’t able to make it.. you will get the just of what I learned..

President Bean: Would I do this if the Savior stood beside me?

• ·         Daily Prayer will provide us with protection
• ·         Don’t do things that will cause you to JAM THE CHANNELS of communication (BOYD K PACKER TALK)
• ·         An easy way to protect our family and homes from things of the world is to ask our selves: “Would I be doing this if the Savior stood beside me?
• ·         Go back to the BASICS… when we do even just the basics he PROMISED that we will be protected in our lives.

This video goes PERFECTLY with all the talks today but especially this one.. It would be AWESOME to show your family for FHE.. one of my ALL TIME favorite songs!

Brother Wade Whiting: That’s what I LOVE about my church!

• ·         Be a voice of  WARNING to those around you… EXAMPLE is the most powerful voice!
• ·         “Let your life be the lesson that teaches all others” Elder Ballard
• ·         Most converts don’t join because of what the know.  They join because of what they feel, see or like in it’s members- Elder Holland
• ·         If they TRUST the messenger, they TRUST the message!

·         1 NEPHI 8:10 “And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.” If they are attracted to the FRUITS then they will want to see the ROOTS from which the fruit came.

·         That’s what I love about my church! (Talked about a sister in the stake that brought bread to her co workers.  They asked, “how did you learn to bake such AMAZING bread!  She used the token phrase, That’s what I love about my church, it teaches us how to do many things like baking bread!)

·         Let the SPIRIT fill in the blanks!

Sister Briggs: Sister’s you are a powerful source

 Sister Briggs in her farewell testimony wanted all the sisters to know that you ARE A POWERFUL SOURCE!  She talked about how she is living PROOG of the missionary program as a teen all her family converted.  She wanted parents to know that MIRACLES happen with wayward children.

President Chapman:

• ·         What path would you have chosen? (He gave specific examples from his life and others… a choice between BETTER and BEST!)
• ·         Acts: The Savior went about doing good.
• ·         Press Forward with steadfastness in Christ.
• ·         We were sent here not ONLY to do the small things!
• ·         The stakes are TOO high to take the path of least resistance.

·         Mosiah 24:14 Doctrine of Burdens:

“And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.”

• ·         We are never alone.  When we call out to the Lord in prayer, he will come and help us get through those afflictions!

Oh Sisters!  How we need each other in this life!  How we need to learn, comfort and be there to help each other through these times of much heart break and trial.  Please remember the main lessons we learned today

1. 1.       If the Savior stood beside me, how would I act in this situation.
2. 2.       That’s what I love about my church…
3. 3.       What path would you have chosen

I know when we slow down, and think of all the PEOPLE instead of the TASKS in our life, that we will receive direction and inspiration to bless the lives of others.  One of my investigators on my mission gave me 2 poems that I keep tucked in my scriptures and refer to quite often. They really help me remember the BASICS and thought I would share them with you all tonight! 

Have a GREAT WEEK!  I miss seeing all your gorgeous, radiant and loving faces!  It has been 3 weeks for me since I have been with you!  Can’t wait till next Sunday! 

Wish me luck, I start with my new family of NEWBORN TWINS at 7am!  Thank you Vaughan’s for the referral!

Love, Meg

No Time, Too Much To Do

I knelt to pray but not for long,

I had too much to do.

I had to hurry and get to work

For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,

And jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done

My soul could rest at ease.....

All day long I had no time

To spread a word of cheer.

No time to speak of Christ to friends,

They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do,

That was my constant cry,

No time to give to souls in need

But at last twas time to die.

Then before the Lord was I

I came and stood with downcast eyes.

For in His hands GOD held a book;

It was the "Book Of Life"

GOD looked into His book and said

"Your name I cannot find.

I once was going to write it down...

But never found the time"

Little things in Life that mean a lot

Too often we don't realize
What we have, until it is gone.
Too often we wait too late to say,
"I'm sorry - I was wrong."

Sometimes it seems we hurt the ones
Who're dearest to our hearts,
And allow the little foolish things
To tear our lives apart.

We let the unimportant things
Clutter up our minds,
And then it's often far too late
To see what made us blind.

So be sure that you let people know
How much they mean to you,
Take time to say those special words
Before your time is through.

Be sure that you appreciate
Everything you've got,
And be thankful for the little things
In life that mean a lot!