When I was a lad I always wondered if I could get away with living it up until I got old and settled down. Then I could repent later. But that's not true repentance. We can't just expect to be able to repent whenever, that is a strategy Satan uses to deceive people into living a poor lifestyle. Whether we like it or not we will always move in a direction. If you aren't moving towards Christ you are moving away, there is no staying stationary. An analogy I heard is that your mind is like a stage that can only be occupied by one actor. If it is unoccupied (not living the gospel and filling your mind with scripture study, prayer, etc) then naturally, darkness will flood the stage (your mind). Darkness naturally floods because 1. we are human and that's what we do and 2. we are constantly exposed to the world which is filled with darkness. The more time goes on without living the gospel, taking sacrament, etc...the thicker the darkness gets.
Alma 34:33-34 says:
33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
It says to not procrastinate the day of repentance. The best time to plant a tree was years ago, the second best time is now. No time like the present. It also mentions laboring at night in the first verse. When we do yard work, what's the best time to do it? The morning, when the day is fresh. The longer we wait the harder the work gets because of the heat and bugs. So we will want to work (start living the gospel) later and later until it's night. Then it gets nearly impossible. Much like delaying work until night, living the gospel gets nearly impossible if we wait until later and we won't want to do it. Then it goes undone and ends up bad, like an unkept yard, our minds become overcome with obnoxious weeds and plants (bad thoughts and behaviors) and chaotic.
This analogy probably will make more sense. We are like clay. When we are young we are like wet clay but as we get older it hardens gets harder and harder to mold. So if we wait to live the gospel and to come closer to Christ, it will be harder to change back to how we are meant to be and more changing will be required, making it nearly impossible if we wait too long.
Moral: Don't wait to do whatever is you need to. Whether it be read scriptures more often, making more of an effort to make it to church, pray, spend more time with family, etc.. If you wait it will only get harder to change.
Monday:
Not much
Tuesday:
I was asked to conduct the zone training and preside over it. That means I got to sit in the special folding table up front. Apparently I did really well directing it, a lot of people said they were surprised with me being so new. And the zone leaders called and asked me because they wanted to see my reaction and I said I wanted to do it so that's what I did.
Wednesday:
In the ward over last night some missionaries got a call from someone who'd been going to church for a while and was never asked to be baptized. So he talked to the missionaries and is getting baptized today. And Deshawn called us finally! He got a good job in Florida that is stable and paying for his housing. He said he wants missionaries down there to keep teaching him and when he comes back up here in a few months he wants us to baptize him! Except we probably won't be here. But still. I also had an encounter with a cockroach in the shower today so that was cool too.
Thursday:
While tracting we ran into a girl who was interested and said we were meant to be there. But then her dad came down and yelled at us saying to go away and that there is no Jesus. Then we went outside and he kept opening the door to yell at us. Total spirit killer. And he was in this Walmart bag looking thing to just covering his tah tahs. I felt bad for her. Immediately afterwards we talked to a guy who gave us the names and numbers of people who would prove why the book of Mormon is wrong to us and he said that there is a lot wrong with the book of Mormon but he hasn't even read it. He is just taking other people's biased words for it. Never mind the fact that scholars have found it impossible to disprove it. He also said we were a cult and asked us not to tell people we're Mormon because it's disrespectful to Christ's name or something. But the way he said it was respectful which was weird. But a lot of people respectfully tell us how much we suck so it's not out of the ordinary. Then we almost had cops called on us so a neighborhood manager told us to leave. So it was a fun day! I like days like these. A lot of fun people to meet.
Friday:
We did a lot of planning today. And we did a lot of tracting as well. Not much success, but nothing weird like yesterday either. Except we did drive in the mini van (man van) with the other companionship in the ward with the doors slid open. We figured if jeeps could do it then we could. We got a lot of looks and laughs for some reason. Then when we pulled up to a stop light I looked at the lady in the car next to me and waved. Then I pulled out a Book of Mormon and pointed to it. She laughed, then I said, "do you want it?" And she nodded and rolled down her window. I got out of the car and gave it to her. I'm the first missionary to do that so woohoo.
Saturday:
Tracting all day baby! We biked a solid 10 miles. Not much success but it feels that way when you bike that long. We ate at a restaurant for some reason and both left a solid $1 tip (the service wasn't the greatest). So once she took the envelope we bolted out to the back where our bikes were. At the same time she went out back to show them our tip and she saw us seeing her showing her pals our crappy tip. Awkward. I also fell on my bike again. But I can justify it this time! I was trying to make the tightest I could when my bike slipped. But it's ok! I jumped off and played it cool this time.
Sunday:
The missionaries sang in the choir. I'm a missionary, so I sang ("sang") in the choir. My companion and I also taught the primary today about missionary work. We also had meetings and one appointment so not a bad day.
There was was a major gas leak in a Texas pipeline to the East states so there's a major gas shortage. Most gas stations don't even have gas and the stations that do have gas are about to have long lines and ridiculous prices. So this week is going to be fun, I'm glad I'm on bike!! Craziness.
No comments:
Post a Comment