Elder Karbach and I were walking to a Recent convert's home. The
weather was so nice! I even wore a short-sleeved shirt. We stopped to
talk to a lady on the stairs. We introduced the Book of Mormon, but
she wasn't interested. I felt impressed to talk about families. We
taught about how family ties last beyond this life, and how the
fulness of the gospel can bless her family now. After teaching and
testifying, she paused and said with emotion, "Those words were
perfect. They were exactly what I needed to hear."
It was miraculous. She totally opened up to us, highlighting important
parts of the gospel, of which we were able to testify of. She wanted
to know more about the youth programs our church has. She really wants
her teenage daughter to have the church in her life. So she can stay
on the strait and narrow path. It was an awesome experience. My
testimony of the importance of acting on spiritual promptings grew
that day. Our Father in Heaven knew her perfectly - He knew she was
worried about her daughter, so He inspired two young men to tell her
exactly what she needed to hear.
In President Eyring's talk, Bind Up Their Wounds (October 2013 General
Conference Priesthood Session), he says, "as a quorum member, as a
home teacher, and as a missionary, you cannot help people repair
spiritual damage unless your own faith is vibrant." If we wish to be a
'good samaratin,' we have to first ensure that we have prepared our
hearts and our minds for those whom God would have us serve. This is
accomplished by doing the 'primary answers.' Read the scriptures, pray
often, and go to church.
Another thing that went well was when we taught Shirley. She is so
ready for baptism. She's been investigating the church for 6 months,
and she's been attending church for a long time. She knows the church
is true, she just needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a few
of hue commandments, and she'll be ready!
General Conference this weekend was spectacular. I felt that one of
the main messages given was that God will always give us a challenge.
He will give us an mountain to climb, a beast to conquer, or a river
to cross. Undoubtedly, we will stumble and fail. Yet we want to be
champions - we crave personal victory and appraisal from our loved
ones.
We might feel like life has treated us unfairly, giving us too much
than we can handle. Something someone said in conference struck me. He
said, "If you're thinking, 'I already blew it,' stop thinking that
and never think it again." Our mortal and fallen state is greatly
susceptible to thoughts and feelings of inadequacy. Those poisonous
thoughts and feelings, designed by the adversary himself, should be
tossed out like yesterday's jam. This opposition is part of mortality.
This is part of God's plan of happiness for us.
Our finite minds can hardly fathom the potential we bear as literal
spirit children of our God. We are infinitely and significantly more
than we think we are. So don't give up. Never give up hope! The love
is God is as constant and sure as a rushing river. The refusal of a
feeble mortal hand cannot stop the river, nor can the deepest feelings
of remorse halt the love of God. It is simply there. And we can feel
it, quietly, if we soften our hearts.
"There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon.
There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. Here is
not one of us that He has not desired to save, and that He has not
devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given
His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible
in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that
we are the children of God, and that He has given his angels -
invisible beings of power and might - charge concerning us, and they
watch over us and have us in their keeping." President George Q.
Cannon.
"Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son love all of God's children no
matter what they choose to do, or what they become." President Henry
B. Eyring.
I testify that God lives. I am certain of His reality. I will not
doubt nor deny the warmth of his love. I've had the formula of how to
know these things are true my entire life. I've finally applied it,
and it truly works. I've given myself to prayer and fasting to know if
God is there, and I received an answer by the power of the Holy Ghost.
I urge you all to fall to your knees in the depths of humility,
calling upon God in the name of Christ to know if He is there. I
promise you that He will answer. He has given angels charge concerning
you, and "He will ever answer."
I was filled with God's love after the Priesthood session. It was so
powerful and real, I could not deny it. I could have stared at the
very jaws of hell and felt no fear, because my foundation is built on
that of my Redeemer.
My heart is full, yet my stomach is empty. I'm off to lunch. :)
I love you all!
Elder Tanner Hansen
Sent from my iPad
weather was so nice! I even wore a short-sleeved shirt. We stopped to
talk to a lady on the stairs. We introduced the Book of Mormon, but
she wasn't interested. I felt impressed to talk about families. We
taught about how family ties last beyond this life, and how the
fulness of the gospel can bless her family now. After teaching and
testifying, she paused and said with emotion, "Those words were
perfect. They were exactly what I needed to hear."
It was miraculous. She totally opened up to us, highlighting important
parts of the gospel, of which we were able to testify of. She wanted
to know more about the youth programs our church has. She really wants
her teenage daughter to have the church in her life. So she can stay
on the strait and narrow path. It was an awesome experience. My
testimony of the importance of acting on spiritual promptings grew
that day. Our Father in Heaven knew her perfectly - He knew she was
worried about her daughter, so He inspired two young men to tell her
exactly what she needed to hear.
In President Eyring's talk, Bind Up Their Wounds (October 2013 General
Conference Priesthood Session), he says, "as a quorum member, as a
home teacher, and as a missionary, you cannot help people repair
spiritual damage unless your own faith is vibrant." If we wish to be a
'good samaratin,' we have to first ensure that we have prepared our
hearts and our minds for those whom God would have us serve. This is
accomplished by doing the 'primary answers.' Read the scriptures, pray
often, and go to church.
Another thing that went well was when we taught Shirley. She is so
ready for baptism. She's been investigating the church for 6 months,
and she's been attending church for a long time. She knows the church
is true, she just needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a few
of hue commandments, and she'll be ready!
General Conference this weekend was spectacular. I felt that one of
the main messages given was that God will always give us a challenge.
He will give us an mountain to climb, a beast to conquer, or a river
to cross. Undoubtedly, we will stumble and fail. Yet we want to be
champions - we crave personal victory and appraisal from our loved
ones.
We might feel like life has treated us unfairly, giving us too much
than we can handle. Something someone said in conference struck me. He
said, "If you're thinking, 'I already blew it,' stop thinking that
and never think it again." Our mortal and fallen state is greatly
susceptible to thoughts and feelings of inadequacy. Those poisonous
thoughts and feelings, designed by the adversary himself, should be
tossed out like yesterday's jam. This opposition is part of mortality.
This is part of God's plan of happiness for us.
Our finite minds can hardly fathom the potential we bear as literal
spirit children of our God. We are infinitely and significantly more
than we think we are. So don't give up. Never give up hope! The love
is God is as constant and sure as a rushing river. The refusal of a
feeble mortal hand cannot stop the river, nor can the deepest feelings
of remorse halt the love of God. It is simply there. And we can feel
it, quietly, if we soften our hearts.
"There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon.
There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. Here is
not one of us that He has not desired to save, and that He has not
devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given
His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible
in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that
we are the children of God, and that He has given his angels -
invisible beings of power and might - charge concerning us, and they
watch over us and have us in their keeping." President George Q.
Cannon.
"Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son love all of God's children no
matter what they choose to do, or what they become." President Henry
B. Eyring.
I testify that God lives. I am certain of His reality. I will not
doubt nor deny the warmth of his love. I've had the formula of how to
know these things are true my entire life. I've finally applied it,
and it truly works. I've given myself to prayer and fasting to know if
God is there, and I received an answer by the power of the Holy Ghost.
I urge you all to fall to your knees in the depths of humility,
calling upon God in the name of Christ to know if He is there. I
promise you that He will answer. He has given angels charge concerning
you, and "He will ever answer."
I was filled with God's love after the Priesthood session. It was so
powerful and real, I could not deny it. I could have stared at the
very jaws of hell and felt no fear, because my foundation is built on
that of my Redeemer.
My heart is full, yet my stomach is empty. I'm off to lunch. :)
I love you all!
Elder Tanner Hansen
Sent from my iPad