Hello Everyone!
I can hardly believe that not only another week has past by, but as of now I am also at my one year mark. So much has happened in the past year to change me in so many ways. I have a deeper love of the Gospel and the doctrines and principles therein. I have a stronger testimony that I did before. I have a brighter view of what direction my life should go. Yet, I am more aware of the many faults and weaknesses that I have. It has been an incredibly humbling experience to try to consecrate my all to the Lord and to make inviting His children home my primary focus. I can definitely say that I have a long way to go with that, but I am so very grateful for the tender mercies that I have experienced each and every single day as I have tried to put off my wants and tried to be like Christ in living for others instead of self. There was a really good talk I was listening to a few weeks ago and I may have made mention of it before. The title is "Being a Christian Perfectly" by David C. Perry. A point in the talk has been bouncing around in my head the past weeks, and for a good while in my heart. It is that to be perfect is to be whole. It means that no part is working against the other parts in a goal or purpose. If your purpose is to be like Christ, then if there is any part of your life that is preventing it, you are counseled to cut it off and cast it away. I was reading Alma chapter 24 where the Anti-Nephi-Lehis are burying their weapons of war and the reason they are burying their weapons of war is because they have been guilty of murders. They have a problem with, I would call it, bloodlust. So, they bury their weapons of war. Not that the weapons themselves are evil, but because they are a source of temptation inasmuch as they are working against the whole in being righteous. This meaning of perfection has really illuminated my mind. It touched me that at so great a cost they buried their weapons of war and kept their oath even as they were being slaughtered. All because they recognized the great mercy of the Lord in forgiving them of their great sins and they wanted to be clean and whole. I find that I struggle a lot with trying to keep myself whole. I feel pulled in so many directions in this life, voices from every direction are calling, loud, soft, sweet, harsh. Each beckoning in their own way while leading the ear and tugging at the heartstrings of emotion. There truly are so many directions to go in this life, but we are taught in Nephi to hold to the iron rod. Which rod is the word of God through His Son Jesus Christ and His Holy Prophets leading and guiding the children of God to the tree of life or Christ, which fruit is His Atonement. Christ is also known as the Word or the Word of God. So, the iron rod, or Christ leads to Christ whose fruit is the Atonement. So, we hold onto Christ and His teachings, His light and His example and He will lead us to partake of the fruit of His Atonement. Just some interesting things I studied this week.
This week I was able to go on splits with the Spanish Elders a couple of times and also once with the Zone Leaders. I continued to serve at the Healing Place Thrift Store and at the Meals on Wheels foundation. My favorite part of the week though, was being able to serve and work in the Temple. That is the place to truly lay aside the things and voices of the world and tune in the the voice of the Spirit. I am so thankful that there are hallowed places on this Earth where we can feel a little closer to Heaven and things celestial. I know that the Temple truly is a House of God.
I know that Jesus is the Christ, I know that He is the Son of God and that He lives. I know that He is everything, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, He is the creator, enabler and exemplar. I know that God is our Heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us. I know that He has a Prophet on the earth today, even Thomas S. Monson. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that Christ's church was restored through that Prophet and that the Priesthood is once again on the earth. I am humbled and grateful to be a bearer of that holy Priesthood and know that it is a blessing and is only a calling to reach out and serve and bless as if we were Christ's hands on earth. Of these things I testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
- Elder Roberts
