Hello my stupendous family,
You are all awesome. I love you :) I have thoroughly enjoyed this week! We didn't find the new investigators but, we went to the temple and attended General Conference. It has been a powerful experience. I loved this General Conference as it was filled with simple doctrine about the Book of Mormon, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how we can share these important truths to our friends. Also it taught me something very special about the importance of personal revelation.
I have always known that we have the right to receive revelation for our friends and family, but this general conference I thought of how we can better invite the spirit of the Lord to be with us always when we consistently seek out and apply revelation. We are entitled to receiving revelation right now to what we need to do in order to push the work of God forward today. As long as we are diligently keeping the commandments with 100% effort, we are promised to have the Spirit of the Lord with us always along with all of His gifts. One of these precious gifts of the spirit is the spirit of revelation.
As I was speaking with Elder Egbert about this yesterday I thought of how wonderful a blessing it is that we can receive revelation like a to-do list from our Heavenly Father. Then as we go out and accomplish the things that He has revealed to us, He blesses us for accomplishing His will. As missionaries we follow a tight schedule. Wake up at 6:25. Prepare for the day from 6:30 to 7:30. Eat Breakfast. 8:00 Personal Study. 9:00 Companionship Study. And so on until 9:00 when we take time to plan for our next day and prepare for bed from 9:30-10:30. It is a hard schedule, but it is a commandment from Heavenly Father which is accepted by every missionary who receives a call. During this whole day we can receive revelation to do God's will and confirmation as we act that we are doing the will of the Lord. When we wake up at 6:25 we are entitled to the blessings that come from obeying this commandment, namely an added measure of the spirit. Then as we study personally we start with prayer and ask to know the will of God for us. After asking we search diligently for the answer in the scriptures because "the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." (2 Nephi 32:3). After learning our purpose for the day we take time to study as companions. During companionship study we have the blessing of learning how to accomplish our purposes together and bring the Holy Ghost into our companionship. We then take what we learn from these to study times and apply them throughout the day. In doing so we are showing Heavenly Father how much we value the revelation we receive which leads to His blessing us with even more. Then at the end of the day we start our planning by seeing what we were able to accomplish and how the hand of the Lord worked in our lives that day. We continue planning by studying the information of those we have met and searching for what we can do the next day to help them come closer to Christ. Because of our faithfulness in accomplishing the will of God, He takes the opportunity to place in our path those who have been prepared for us and showing us how to find them. With gratitude in our hearts and an inspired plan for the next day we lay down exhausted at the end of the day only to wake up and start the process all over again.
Receiving revelation is a process that if made a part of our lives will bless us to grow at an exponential rate. We will be able to see progression because we take the time each day to see how far we have come. We will be baffled at how true to His word Heavenly Father truly is. Also, our joy will be made full because we are becoming the very people we desire to be. That is Heavenly Father's plan for us. He want's to fulfill every desire of our hearts. If we truly take the time to sit and ponder what our desires are, we will find that they are infused in the gospel of Jesus Christ and desire to do everything within our power to make and keep sacred covenants at baptism and in the temple, because that is what it takes to become like our Heavenly Father is. In the grand council of heaven that is what we all wanted. We all desired to become like our Heavenly Father was, is, and ever will be. That is the purpose of the plan of salvation with Jesus Christ at it's center. We are eternally indebted to Jesus Christ because only through Him are we perfected, "there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17)
All that we need to do to be able to receive our dreams is to accept the atonement of Christ. Thus I invite each of us to choose this day to stand a little taller and stretch a little further to come unto Christ. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." (Moroni 10:32) I know that the grace of God can work to give us the strength to change. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is His Son. I know that the Book of Mormon will draw us closer to God than any other book. Read from it's pages and study the messages it contains, then do as Enos did, "Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart. And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens." (Enos 1:3-4)
I testify that as we do this Heavenly Father will open the windows of heaven and testify to us through the Holy Spirit that He is there and that His plan of salvation is for everyone who has faith, repents, is baptized by immersion, receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endures to the end. I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the true church once again upon the earth. That church is led by a prophet today and twelve apostles as in the days of Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I have always known that we have the right to receive revelation for our friends and family, but this general conference I thought of how we can better invite the spirit of the Lord to be with us always when we consistently seek out and apply revelation. We are entitled to receiving revelation right now to what we need to do in order to push the work of God forward today. As long as we are diligently keeping the commandments with 100% effort, we are promised to have the Spirit of the Lord with us always along with all of His gifts. One of these precious gifts of the spirit is the spirit of revelation.
As I was speaking with Elder Egbert about this yesterday I thought of how wonderful a blessing it is that we can receive revelation like a to-do list from our Heavenly Father. Then as we go out and accomplish the things that He has revealed to us, He blesses us for accomplishing His will. As missionaries we follow a tight schedule. Wake up at 6:25. Prepare for the day from 6:30 to 7:30. Eat Breakfast. 8:00 Personal Study. 9:00 Companionship Study. And so on until 9:00 when we take time to plan for our next day and prepare for bed from 9:30-10:30. It is a hard schedule, but it is a commandment from Heavenly Father which is accepted by every missionary who receives a call. During this whole day we can receive revelation to do God's will and confirmation as we act that we are doing the will of the Lord. When we wake up at 6:25 we are entitled to the blessings that come from obeying this commandment, namely an added measure of the spirit. Then as we study personally we start with prayer and ask to know the will of God for us. After asking we search diligently for the answer in the scriptures because "the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." (2 Nephi 32:3). After learning our purpose for the day we take time to study as companions. During companionship study we have the blessing of learning how to accomplish our purposes together and bring the Holy Ghost into our companionship. We then take what we learn from these to study times and apply them throughout the day. In doing so we are showing Heavenly Father how much we value the revelation we receive which leads to His blessing us with even more. Then at the end of the day we start our planning by seeing what we were able to accomplish and how the hand of the Lord worked in our lives that day. We continue planning by studying the information of those we have met and searching for what we can do the next day to help them come closer to Christ. Because of our faithfulness in accomplishing the will of God, He takes the opportunity to place in our path those who have been prepared for us and showing us how to find them. With gratitude in our hearts and an inspired plan for the next day we lay down exhausted at the end of the day only to wake up and start the process all over again.
Receiving revelation is a process that if made a part of our lives will bless us to grow at an exponential rate. We will be able to see progression because we take the time each day to see how far we have come. We will be baffled at how true to His word Heavenly Father truly is. Also, our joy will be made full because we are becoming the very people we desire to be. That is Heavenly Father's plan for us. He want's to fulfill every desire of our hearts. If we truly take the time to sit and ponder what our desires are, we will find that they are infused in the gospel of Jesus Christ and desire to do everything within our power to make and keep sacred covenants at baptism and in the temple, because that is what it takes to become like our Heavenly Father is. In the grand council of heaven that is what we all wanted. We all desired to become like our Heavenly Father was, is, and ever will be. That is the purpose of the plan of salvation with Jesus Christ at it's center. We are eternally indebted to Jesus Christ because only through Him are we perfected, "there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17)
All that we need to do to be able to receive our dreams is to accept the atonement of Christ. Thus I invite each of us to choose this day to stand a little taller and stretch a little further to come unto Christ. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." (Moroni 10:32) I know that the grace of God can work to give us the strength to change. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is His Son. I know that the Book of Mormon will draw us closer to God than any other book. Read from it's pages and study the messages it contains, then do as Enos did, "Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart. And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens." (Enos 1:3-4)
I testify that as we do this Heavenly Father will open the windows of heaven and testify to us through the Holy Spirit that He is there and that His plan of salvation is for everyone who has faith, repents, is baptized by immersion, receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endures to the end. I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the true church once again upon the earth. That church is led by a prophet today and twelve apostles as in the days of Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
