How does a person build a life founded on truth ? It won't suprise you that the answer is simple enough for a child to understand, but that applying it is easy only for a person who has the heart of a child.
Jesus Christ answered the question of how to build on a foundation of truth with a story. You not only can remember it, but you can visualize it--especially if you've ever lived in a floodplain or in tornado country.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be liken unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24-27)
Obedience to commandments is the way we build a foundation of truth. Here is the way that works, in words that are so simple a child could understand. The truth of most worth is to know God our Heavenly Father, his Son Jesus, and their plan for us to have eternal life with them in families. When God communicates that priceless truth to us, He does it in the Spirit of Truth. We have to ask for it in prayer. Then He sends us a small part of that truth by the Spirit. It comes to our hearts and minds. It feels good, like the light from the sun shining through the clouds on a dark day. He sends truth line upon line, like the lines on the page of a book. Each time a line of truth comes to us, we get to choose what we will do about the light and truth God has sent to us. God will send more light and more truth. It will go on, line after line, as long as we choose to obey the truth. That is why the Savior said that the man who obeyed His commandments built on a rock so solid that no storm or flood could hurt his house.
In another place in the scriptures, the Lord described in a beautiful way how the foundation could be built so that we could finally come to know all He knows and become like Him and our Heavenly Father. Listen to His words. His words are truth. And listen to see if something comes into your mind that you should do, because these words are true.
I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.
For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace. (D&C 93:19-200
And then a few verses later the Lord says:
And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;
And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning.
The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth;
and no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments.
He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things. (D & C 93:24-28).
Now you can understand why President Joseph F. Smith made building on a foundation of truth sound like a long list of things to do. He seems to be describing work rather than the exciting adventure that it is. I remember President Benson saying with a smile about his service, "I love this work. And it is work." Here is President Smith's description of the work it takes to build an impersihable foundation of truth. You will notice that the work is simple obedience. It is not complicated things--it is not fancy things or getting great spiritual manifestations. This is work within the abilities of the most humble and the least educated. Here is his list:
But the men and the women who are honest before God, who humbly plod along, doing their duty, paying their tithing, and exercising that pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, which is to visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself unspotted from the world, and who help look after the poor; and who honor the holy Priesthood, who do not run into excesses, who are prayerful in their families, and who acknowledge the Lord in their hearts, they will build up a foundation that the gates of hell cannot prevail against; and if the floods come and the storms beat upon their house, it shall not fall, for it will be built upon the rock of eternal truth. (GD, 7-8).
It sounds so simple to build on a foundation of truth that you may wonder why everyone doesn't succeed. It takes great humility. This talk was given by Henry B. Eyring in August 2000 at BYU. If you are interested you you can download it at byu.org. The title is "A Life Founded in Light and Truth." Elder and Sister Larsen
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
more mission news
We are in the Salt Lake Second Branch in the Salt Lake Stake. Everyone in our branch is a missionary except for the branch president and his first counselor and their wives. So almost everyone wears missionary badges. There are about 230 to 250 missionaries. There are missionaries going home and coming in on a regular basis so the number changes. Elder Larsen in the new high priest group leader in our branch and also was recently asked to be an assistant to our zone leader at the Family History Library. Our branch president's wife, Sue Laing is my third cousin. Joseph Bartholomew Sr. and Polly Benson are also her second great grandparents through their son John.
We attended a devotional where L. Whitney Clayton of the seventy was the speaker. He spoke about reaping a harvest. He said that when we make correct decisions we seem to pay a price now and receive a reward later. On the other hand when we make wrong decisions now we usually get an immediate reward but pay the price later. The law of the harvest can protect us. The most important seeds are faith in Christ which Alma spoke about in the Book of Mormon (Alma 32:28-43). We are planting seeds every day. If we choose the right we cannot fail. We can receive the precious fruit of the gospel.
We have a get together every two months called "hail and farewell" in our branch where we greet new missionaries and say goodbye to those who are leaving. It's hard to see people who have become our friends leave. Someone said that they all come with expiration dates (don't we all!).
Elder larsen and I belong to the men's and women's choruses. There is also an Elijah Chorus. One of the choirs' leaders asked me if I would join when we first came on our mission. I told her that I was too overwhelmed with all of the new missionary responsibilities. She said "That's why we sing!" A few weeks later they were planning a big Easter devotional where the choirs would sing in the tabernacle and needed more people so she asked me again as we were waiting for a meeting. I told her that I would think about it. I was reading a book while I was waiting for the meeting to start and the first page I opened had the scripture from D&C 136:28, "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving." I thought that it might be some encouragement for me to join. On March 17, 2008 we sang at the Easter devotional where Elder Quentin L. Cook, who is an apostle, spoke. We were able to sit in the same seats where the Tabernacle Choir usually sings. I remember one quote from Elder Cook that went something like this--he spoke about President David O. McKay's quote about how no success can compensate for failure in the home. Elder Cook said that the success of our posterity will compensate for our mistakes. I wish that I could remember exactly what he said. It's wonderful to be here and have so many opportunities to meet or hear apostles and our prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
We attended a devotional where L. Whitney Clayton of the seventy was the speaker. He spoke about reaping a harvest. He said that when we make correct decisions we seem to pay a price now and receive a reward later. On the other hand when we make wrong decisions now we usually get an immediate reward but pay the price later. The law of the harvest can protect us. The most important seeds are faith in Christ which Alma spoke about in the Book of Mormon (Alma 32:28-43). We are planting seeds every day. If we choose the right we cannot fail. We can receive the precious fruit of the gospel.
We have a get together every two months called "hail and farewell" in our branch where we greet new missionaries and say goodbye to those who are leaving. It's hard to see people who have become our friends leave. Someone said that they all come with expiration dates (don't we all!).
Elder larsen and I belong to the men's and women's choruses. There is also an Elijah Chorus. One of the choirs' leaders asked me if I would join when we first came on our mission. I told her that I was too overwhelmed with all of the new missionary responsibilities. She said "That's why we sing!" A few weeks later they were planning a big Easter devotional where the choirs would sing in the tabernacle and needed more people so she asked me again as we were waiting for a meeting. I told her that I would think about it. I was reading a book while I was waiting for the meeting to start and the first page I opened had the scripture from D&C 136:28, "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving." I thought that it might be some encouragement for me to join. On March 17, 2008 we sang at the Easter devotional where Elder Quentin L. Cook, who is an apostle, spoke. We were able to sit in the same seats where the Tabernacle Choir usually sings. I remember one quote from Elder Cook that went something like this--he spoke about President David O. McKay's quote about how no success can compensate for failure in the home. Elder Cook said that the success of our posterity will compensate for our mistakes. I wish that I could remember exactly what he said. It's wonderful to be here and have so many opportunities to meet or hear apostles and our prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
President Hinckley's funeral
January 28, 2008 we heard at our mission devotional that President Gordon B. Hinckley had passed away. At first I was saddened because he has been such a positive influence in my life. Then I realized that he won't have to be lonely for his wife anymore and that at 97 years old he was ready for a rest. We attended a devotional at the Salt Lake Temple January 30th with Elder Dallin Oaks. He told us that the last day he had seen President Hinckley come to work was the Wednesday before he died. He didn't feel well the next few days so he stayed home, then passed away on Sunday, January 27, 2008. He worked very hard and stayed alert until the end. He was so optimistic and often said, "It will work out!" February 1st we attended his viewing in the Conference Center. Among the displays of flowers there were 3 displays--one from his children, one from his grandchildren and one from his great grandchildren. That one had a note on it that said something like this--"Dear Grandpa, We will always be grateful, we will always be smart, we will always be clean, we will always be true, we will always be humble, we will always be prayerful because we love you!". President Hinckley had once given a talk and said in it something like--Sometimes you will get As but today I will give you some Bs, and then he talked about each "BE" item. On Saturday we were able to go to his funeral mainly because we are here on our mission. President Hinckley will be remembered for his hard work, optimism, kindness, humor, dedication, temple building, traveling to visit members, his love and many other wonderful qualities. Tomorrow morning (February 4, 2008) the apostles will announce the new first presidency. Sister Jean Larsen
Sunday, January 27, 2008
New Zone assignments
It's been a very busy few weeks and some very challenging classes that have taken us wild geneology ride. There is so much that we must learn before we can do any of the research on our own. We will be taking classes in between serving as greeters in the lobby of the Family History Library. The new Family Search program is undergoing weekly upgrades, if not daily upgrades. Every upgrade changes the way that the screen looks or the way you enter some of the information. Tomorrow Jean and I start some contining training for geneology and we are trying to absorb it all. It's fun and we know that that this exactly where we should be at this time because the Lord has some work that needs to be done. Maybe part of that work that needs to be done is helping us to grow. May the Good Lord bless and keep you all! Elder Larsen
We are serving in the Family and Chruch History Mission which is the largest mission in the Church. It's also the highest baptizing mission if you count redeeming the dead! The group we came in with have decided to be called the "frozen chosen" because of the snowy cold weather here at the time we started. We will be doing monthly activities with this group throughout our mission. After two weeks of genealogy training we have been assigned to guest services at the Family History Library. We will be serving in the lobby at the greeting desk, the information desk, the temple ordinance/lost and found desk, and the orientation room where patrons receive information of library services and resources. We have received a very warm welcome at our mission and at our branch here. We are enjoying the opportunity to make new friends. Sister Larsen
We are serving in the Family and Chruch History Mission which is the largest mission in the Church. It's also the highest baptizing mission if you count redeeming the dead! The group we came in with have decided to be called the "frozen chosen" because of the snowy cold weather here at the time we started. We will be doing monthly activities with this group throughout our mission. After two weeks of genealogy training we have been assigned to guest services at the Family History Library. We will be serving in the lobby at the greeting desk, the information desk, the temple ordinance/lost and found desk, and the orientation room where patrons receive information of library services and resources. We have received a very warm welcome at our mission and at our branch here. We are enjoying the opportunity to make new friends. Sister Larsen
Friday, November 23, 2007
New Blog
We are going to start a blog to keep all our friends and family updated about what we are doing on our mission. Check back periodically for updates!!!
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