tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25433970424818036662024-03-13T11:18:46.331-07:00Elder Richardson's LDS Mission BlogLouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-44177228760973994202016-06-29T09:39:00.000-07:002016-06-29T09:39:03.160-07:00<br />
The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning!<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Jun 28 at 11:32 AM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
BUENOS DIAS ALL YALL!!!!<br />
I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS THE LAST WEEK!!!! Yesterday was my last full day of proselyting!!! It really hit today! I haven't even packed yet. HAHA!!!!! I am washing my clothes right now and Tonight we will be busy because everybody wanted us to come over. HAHA. So tonight is definitely going to be a late one. I cant wait to see everyone but i am sad I am leaving my home here in Louisiana.<br />
<br />
This week was fairly busy we saw a lot of people. We got to see a lot of people. It was hard to say goodbye to a lot of people. I have learned so much from this journey as a missionary. Never have I more fully understood the love Jesus Christ has had for us. He loves us and cares about us more than we can ever imagine. He beckons us "Come unto me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." He is there to give us the strength we need. He has suffered for all individually. He know personally what we are going through. I am so grateful that a savior has been provided for us. Through is grace and mercy we can be redeemed from sin. May we continue to put or trust in his redeeming love. I know God is at all times in control. Through this gospel we can have peace and joy that comes from living it. We have been blessed so much because of the gospel. May we continue to give our all to this glorious gospel.<br />
<br />
172 years ago on the prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. John Taylor wrote that Joseph Smith had done more for the salvation of man then any man on the earth besides the Lord Jesus Christ. The fruits that came from Joseph Smith have blessed the lives of millions. I have been truly blessed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I don't even want to know where my life would be without the Prophet Joseph Smith.<br />
<br />
Well the time has come where I will be stepping into a new chapter into my life. The work will continue to blossom here in Louisiana. This isn't the work of Elder Richardson or any of the missionaries but it is the literal work of the Lord. The Prophet Joseph Smith has stated “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”<br />
<br />
I know this gospel is true! I am so grateful for the experience I had out here in Louisiana. I will forever be changed for the better because of the experiences and the people I met out here. I cant wait to see yall this Thursday!!!!!! Thanks yall for your support, prayers, and love!<br />
I LOVE YALL SO MUCH!!!!<br />
Elder Richardson.<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-41760835054497207232016-06-29T09:37:00.001-07:002016-06-29T09:37:59.047-07:00<br />
In Our Lovely Deseret<br />
<br />
<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Jun 20 at 1:31<br />
<div>
<br />larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!<br />
So this week was really good. We had around 15 lessons which was really great. Monday we saw Rico and we talked about the importance of faith. Tuesday we saw Brian, Jose, and Herman. Wednesday we saw Miss Pat. Thursday we saw Brother eric and sister garza for FHE and we visited a new investigator named Miss. Agnes. Friday we had ZTM in Baton Rouge. I gave my go home testimony there. After we had to stay in Baton Rouge a little longer because I had my go home interview. It was basically all on preparing for career and marriage........... 🤔😷😨............ It was a really good interview....... After we went to Bills house. Saturday we saw Dalton, Brian, Miss Pat, Bro Alfaro, and we helped Bill edge his yard. Sunday President and Sister Hansen spoke in the branch. It was really good. After we went to Bro Stanleys for lunch. After we went to Carmen and Pedros, some friends of the Lomas family. We found out that Pedro was a member but was excommunicated. He wants to come back and he wants his children to be taught the gospel. He and his wife have to get married. Hopefully we will be able to help him.<br />
<br />
Well I can't believe this is my last full week here in Louisiana. I can say to yall see ya next week. HAHA. I am not going to lie. I am scared to death!!!! But I am super excited to be back in good ol'e Deseret; my good old mountain home. Over these past two years I have learned a lot on my mission. I would like to share some of these with yall.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
1. The Church is True<br />
Ok, so I always have had a testimony the church is true, and I have always known the church is true; however, my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel has increased immensely. Every time I have born testimony my testimony is strengthened. I have gained greater knowledge through study. Over my mission I have read the book of mormon countless number of times as well as other scriptures and literature of the church. I have felt the spirit witness to me that the church is true. In the bible we by their fruits ye shall know them. What is the fruit of the gospel? Well I definitely have been a first hand witness of it going into to homes where the gospel is not lived versus where the gospel is central to the home. There is a HUGE difference!!! The fruits of the gospel is joy, happiness, charity, humility, diligence, love. respect, good health, safety, etc!!! The same feelings of the gospel are the fruits of the spirit found in Galatians 5 22-23 in the bible. I have experienced these same fruits from the gospel.<br />
<br />
2. Christ-like Love<br />
On the mission the first thing they tell you is to love the people. Loving others set asides differences and faults. Sister Hansen is famously quoted all the time "what if love were your only motive?" A missionary is most effective when he puts aside numbers, statistics, impressing family or president. and focuses on the individual and loving them. One of my favorite stories in the bible is when the woman taken in adultery is brought before Jesus Christ. He didn't condone adultery. He gave the woman love instead of an authoritative lecture. He gave his powerful declaration of Go, and Sin no more. He demonstrated the powerful lesson of love the sinner and hate the sin. No wonder he is called the Good Shepard. He loves all of his sheep whether they have strayed, are hungry, or lost. On my mission I have experienced teaching others who are different denominations, different races, different political affiliation, drug users, have severe mental disorders, don't live the law of chastity, and views toward the gospel are bitter. In many instances I have had to pause and wonder what would the savior do to help this individual. First we must love and serve them. I have learned to looking past differences and having compassion and charity for these people. <br />
<br />
3. The Book of Mormon<br />
If you are going to convert someone to the gospel you have to use the Book of Mormon. You are not going to be able to convince someone of the truthfulness of the gospel through bible bashing. I learned to quick on the mission and bible bashing does not invite the spirit. Once a person is set on arguing, the spirit wont be there. You can clarify questions with the bible but an honest seaker will study the book of mormon with real intent and ask God if it is true. A person cannot become truly converted unless he or she has read the Book of Mormon.<br />
<br />
4. Living on Own<br />
I have learned the importance of self reliance. Not only do we need budgeting, hard-work, thrift, but apart of being self-reliant we must include the lord. As we live the commandments and do what the lords asks of us FIRST, we will be more capable of being self-reliant and blessed. We can't do it without God. Teaching, finance, etc. I have also appreciated my Dad, Mom, and Ashley and Megan so much more for all they have done and there help. It is hard being away from the people you love the most. I am reminded by the scripture in Alma where the stippling warriors were so valiant because of the teachings of their fathers and mothers. Without the teachings and help of my parents and my sisters I know I would not be out here.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Well There is so much I could name off but these are my four greatest topics. I know that God lives and he loves all of his children. He is the same yesterday today and forever. Jesus Christ is his son. Their work and their glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This gospel is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the lord's kingdom established on the earth to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Christ is at the head of this church. Thomas S. Monson is his revelator and prophet on the earth. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is a record saved for our day in complete purity of doctrine. Joseph Smith restored the Church. He was a prophet of God. I have no doubt about it. MAY YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
ELDER RICHARDSON<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!<br />
So this week was really good. We had around 15 lessons which was really great. Monday we saw Rico and we talked about the importance of faith. Tuesday we saw Brian, Jose, and Herman. Wednesday we saw Miss Pat. Thursday we saw Brother eric and sister garza for FHE and we visited a new investigator named Miss. Agnes. Friday we had ZTM in Baton Rouge. I gave my go home testimony there. After we had to stay in Baton Rouge a little longer because I had my go home interview. It was basically all on preparing for career and marriage........... 🤔😷😨............ It was a really good interview....... After we went to Bills house. Saturday we saw Dalton, Brian, Miss Pat, Bro Alfaro, and we helped Bill edge his yard. Sunday President and Sister Hansen spoke in the branch. It was really good. After we went to Bro Stanleys for lunch. After we went to Carmen and Pedros, some friends of the Lomas family. We found out that Pedro was a member but was excommunicated. He wants to come back and he wants his children to be taught the gospel. He and his wife have to get married. Hopefully we will be able to help him.<br />
<br />
Well I can't believe this is my last full week here in Louisiana. I can say to yall see ya next week. HAHA. I am not going to lie. I am scared to death!!!! But I am super excited to be back in good ol'e Deseret; my good old mountain home. Over these past two years I have learned a lot on my mission. I would like to share some of these with yall.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
1. The Church is True<br />
Ok, so I always have had a testimony the church is true, and I have always known the church is true; however, my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel has increased immensely. Every time I have born testimony my testimony is strengthened. I have gained greater knowledge through study. Over my mission I have read the book of mormon countless number of times as well as other scriptures and literature of the church. I have felt the spirit witness to me that the church is true. In the bible we by their fruits ye shall know them. What is the fruit of the gospel? Well I definitely have been a first hand witness of it going into to homes where the gospel is not lived versus where the gospel is central to the home. There is a HUGE difference!!! The fruits of the gospel is joy, happiness, charity, humility, diligence, love. respect, good health, safety, etc!!! The same feelings of the gospel are the fruits of the spirit found in Galatians 5 22-23 in the bible. I have experienced these same fruits from the gospel.<br />
<br />
2. Christ-like Love<br />
On the mission the first thing they tell you is to love the people. Loving others set asides differences and faults. Sister Hansen is famously quoted all the time "what if love were your only motive?" A missionary is most effective when he puts aside numbers, statistics, impressing family or president. and focuses on the individual and loving them. One of my favorite stories in the bible is when the woman taken in adultery is brought before Jesus Christ. He didn't condone adultery. He gave the woman love instead of an authoritative lecture. He gave his powerful declaration of Go, and Sin no more. He demonstrated the powerful lesson of love the sinner and hate the sin. No wonder he is called the Good Shepard. He loves all of his sheep whether they have strayed, are hungry, or lost. On my mission I have experienced teaching others who are different denominations, different races, different political affiliation, drug users, have severe mental disorders, don't live the law of chastity, and views toward the gospel are bitter. In many instances I have had to pause and wonder what would the savior do to help this individual. First we must love and serve them. I have learned to looking past differences and having compassion and charity for these people. <br />
<br />
3. The Book of Mormon<br />
If you are going to convert someone to the gospel you have to use the Book of Mormon. You are not going to be able to convince someone of the truthfulness of the gospel through bible bashing. I learned to quick on the mission and bible bashing does not invite the spirit. Once a person is set on arguing, the spirit wont be there. You can clarify questions with the bible but an honest seaker will study the book of mormon with real intent and ask God if it is true. A person cannot become truly converted unless he or she has read the Book of Mormon.<br />
<br />
4. Living on Own<br />
I have learned the importance of self reliance. Not only do we need budgeting, hard-work, thrift, but apart of being self-reliant we must include the lord. As we live the commandments and do what the lords asks of us FIRST, we will be more capable of being self-reliant and blessed. We can't do it without God. Teaching, finance, etc. I have also appreciated my Dad, Mom, and Ashley and Megan so much more for all they have done and there help. It is hard being away from the people you love the most. I am reminded by the scripture in Alma where the stippling warriors were so valiant because of the teachings of their fathers and mothers. Without the teachings and help of my parents and my sisters I know I would not be out here.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Well There is so much I could name off but these are my four greatest topics. I know that God lives and he loves all of his children. He is the same yesterday today and forever. Jesus Christ is his son. Their work and their glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This gospel is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the lord's kingdom established on the earth to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Christ is at the head of this church. Thomas S. Monson is his revelator and prophet on the earth. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is a record saved for our day in complete purity of doctrine. Joseph Smith restored the Church. He was a prophet of God. I have no doubt about it. MAY YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
ELDER RICHARDSON<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-49846504420578701602016-06-29T09:30:00.000-07:002016-06-29T09:30:31.526-07:00Oh Ye Mountains High<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Jun 13 at 11:50 AM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
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Message body<br />
HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!! Everybody!!!!<br />
So this week was amazing but very tiriing!!! At the start of the week We started out the week by seeing Bill and the Davis family. Tuesday was a joke! We had to move in all of our stuff to the sisters apartment because they were going to clean the carpets and re paint the apartment. So that was a huge pain. We got to see Miss Pat and Brian that day. That night we had to go to Baton Rouge to do exchanges with the ZLs. That was interesting of it self. I was not too impress with exchanges. Anyway.... Thursday we got to listen to Elder Kopishke of the seventy who came down and spoke to us. It was really good he talked about us magnifying our calling, submitting ourselves to the lord, and feeling acceptable. It was amazing. When we got home from Baton Rouge we moved all of our stuff back in the apartment; they cleaned the carpets but didn't paint the walls. Our housing coordinator was not happy, but we still moved in. We were tired after those couple of days.<br />
<br />
The next day we got a call that the Lomas Family decided to move at the last minute so we went and helped them move all day. It was so sad. It was so hard to leave them. We were able to contact their new bishop and they also called him as well. I am happy for them. It will be better for them because they are moving into a spanish ward. After we went to Bills.<br />
<br />
Saturday was busy. We went and saw Dalton, Brian, Jose. After we went by a referal from our ward mission leader to visit his brother. It was really good, he wasnt interested but him and his wife were very nice and we talked to them a while.<br />
<br />
Sunday we had stake conference. I was really neat. Elder Kopishke spoke. Our stake presidency was reorganized also. After we did the long drive back to new iberia. We were able to see brother alfaro that night.<br />
<br />
Well this week was awesome!!! It is starting to feel weird that I only have two of these emails left. Saturday I read a talk from the last general conference of the church by Jeffery R. Holland entitled Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders Among You. With the emotional roller coaster of going home, it was definitely a talk I needed. This last week there were a lot of feelings of doubt, discouragement, sadness, fear, etc etc etc!!!! I heard from the former stake presidents wife something like this. We read in the scriptures "And it came to pass." Nothing ever stays. In the roller coaster of life the good or bad never stay. It comes to pass. Sometimes this can be fearing when amazing spiritual events. How grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the strength and happiness that we can all receive from it. May yall have an amazing week!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
<br />
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/tomorrow-the-lord-will-do-wonders-among-you?lang=eng<br />
<br />
Brothers and sisters, do you have any idea—do you have any notion or inkling whatsoever—of how much we love you? For 10 hours you watch, fixed on one face at this pulpit sequentially, but for those same 10 hours, we seated behind this pulpit watch, fixed on you. You thrill us to the center of our soul, whether that be the 21,000 here in the Conference Center, or multitudes in meetinghouses and chapels, or finally millions in homes around the globe, perhaps huddled around a family computer screen. Here you are, there you are, hour after hour, in your Sunday best, being your best. You sing and you pray. You listen and you believe. You are the miracle of this Church. And we love you.<br />
<br />
What another remarkable general conference we have had. We have been especially blessed by President Thomas S. Monson’s presence and prophetic messages. President, we love you, we pray for you, we thank you, and above all, we sustain you. We are grateful to have been taught by you and your marvelous counselors and so many of our other great men and women leaders. We have heard incomparable music. We have been urgently prayed for and pleaded with. Truly the Spirit of the Lord has been here in rich abundance. What an inspirational weekend it has been in every way.<br />
<br />
Now, I do see a couple of problems. One is the fact that I am the only person standing between you and the ice cream you always have ready at the close of general conference. The other potential problem is captured in this photo I saw recently on the Internet.<br />
<br />
Dinosaur chasing children<br />
My apologies to all the children who are now hiding under the sofa, but the fact of the matter is none of us want tomorrow, or the day after that, to destroy the wonderful feelings we have had this weekend. We want to hold fast to the spiritual impressions we have had and the inspired teachings we have heard. But it is inevitable that after heavenly moments in our lives, we, of necessity, return to earth, so to speak, where sometimes less-than-ideal circumstances again face us.<br />
<br />
The author of Hebrews warned us of this when he wrote, “Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.”1 That post-illumination affliction can come in many ways, and it can come to all of us. Surely every missionary who has ever served soon realized that life in the field wasn’t going to be quite like the rarefied atmosphere of the missionary training center. So too for all of us upon leaving a sweet session in the temple or concluding a particularly spiritual sacrament meeting.<br />
<br />
Remember that when Moses came down from his singular experience on Mount Sinai, he found that his people had “corrupted themselves” and had “turned aside quickly.”2 There they were at the foot of the mountain, busily fashioning a golden calf to worship, in the very hour that Jehovah, at the summit of the mountain, had been telling Moses, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”3 Moses was not happy with his flock of wandering Israelites that day!<br />
<br />
During His earthly ministry, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration, where, the scriptures say, “his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”4 The heavens opened, ancient prophets came, and God the Father spoke.<br />
<br />
After such a celestial experience, what does Jesus come down the mountain to find? Well, first He found an argument between His disciples and their antagonists over a failed blessing administered to a young boy. Then He tried to convince the Twelve—unsuccessfully, it turns out—that He would soon be delivered up to local rulers who would kill Him. Then someone mentioned that a tax was due, which was forthrightly paid. Then He had to rebuke some of the brethren because they were arguing about who would be the greatest in His kingdom. All of this led Him at one point to say, “O faithless generation, … how long shall I suffer you?”5 He had occasion to ask that question more than once during His ministry. No wonder He longed for the prayerful solitude of mountaintops!<br />
<br />
Realizing that we all have to come down from peak experiences to deal with the regular vicissitudes of life, may I offer this encouragement as general conference concludes.<br />
<br />
First of all, if in the days ahead you not only see limitations in those around you but also find elements in your own life that don’t yet measure up to the messages you have heard this weekend, please don’t be cast down in spirit and don’t give up. The gospel, the Church, and these wonderful semiannual gatherings are intended to give hope and inspiration. They are not intended to discourage you. Only the adversary, the enemy of us all, would try to convince us that the ideals outlined in general conference are depressing and unrealistic, that people don’t really improve, that no one really progresses. And why does Lucifer give that speech? Because he knows he can’t improve, he can’t progress, that worlds without end hewill never have a bright tomorrow. He is a miserable man bound by eternal limitations, and he wants you to be miserable too. Well, don’t fall for that. With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we canimprove, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed.<br />
<br />
When there was a controversy in the early Church regarding who was entitled to heaven’s blessings and who wasn’t, the Lord declared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “Verily I say unto you, [the gifts of God] are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep … my commandments, and [for them] that seeketh so to do.”6 Boy, aren’t we all thankful for that added provision “and … seeketh so to do”! That has been a lifesaver because sometimes that is all we can offer! We take some solace in the fact that if God were to reward only the perfectly faithful, He wouldn’t have much of a distribution list.<br />
<br />
Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going. If you fall, summon His strength. Call out like Alma, “O Jesus, … have mercy on me.”7 He will help you get back up. He will help you repent, repair, fix whatever you have to fix, and keep going. Soon enough you will have the success you seek.<br />
<br />
“As you desire of me so it shall be done unto you,” the Lord has declared.<br />
<br />
“… Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously. …<br />
<br />
“… [Then] whatsoever you desire of me [in] righteousness, … you shall receive.”8<br />
<br />
I love that doctrine! It says again and again that we are going to be blessed for ourdesire to do good, even as we actually strive to be so. And it reminds us that to qualify for those blessings, we must make certain we do not deny them to others: we are to deal justly, never unjustly, never unfairly; we are to walk humbly, never arrogantly, never pridefully; we are to judge righteously, never self-righteously, never unrighteously.<br />
<br />
My brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength—that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that reassurance burning in our soul that we can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor.<br />
<br />
President George Q. Cannon once taught: “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. … He will [always] stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them.”9<br />
<br />
Now, with that majestic devotion ringing from heaven as the great constant in our lives, manifested most purely and perfectly in the life, death, and Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can escape the consequences of both sin and stupidity—our own or that of others—in whatever form they may come to us in the course of daily living. If we give our heart to God, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do the best we can to live the gospel, then tomorrow—and every other day—is ultimately going to be magnificent, even if we don’t always recognize it as such. Why? Because our Heavenly Father wants it to be! He wants to bless us. A rewarding, abundant, and eternal life is the very object of His merciful plan for His children! It is a plan predicated on the truth “that all things work together for good to them that love God.”10 So keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.<br />
<br />
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard?” Isaiah cried.<br />
<br />
“[God] giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. …<br />
<br />
“… They that wait upon [Him] shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. …<br />
<br />
“For … the Lord … God will hold [their] right hand, saying unto [them], Fear not; I will help thee.”11<br />
<br />
Brothers and sisters, may a loving Father in Heaven bless us tomorrow to remember how we felt today. May He bless us to strive with patience and persistence toward the ideals we have heard proclaimed this conference weekend, knowing that His divine love and unfailing help will be with us even when we struggle—no, will be with us especially when we struggle.<br />
<br />
If gospel standards seem high and the personal improvement needed in the days ahead seems out of reach, remember Joshua’s encouragement to his people when they faced a daunting future. “Sanctify yourselves,” he said, “for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”12 I declare that same promise. It is the promise of this conference. It is the promise of this Church. It is the promise of Him who performs those wonders, who is Himself “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, ... The Prince of Peace.”13 Of Him I bear witness. Of Him I am a witness. And to Him this conference stands as a testament of His ongoing work in this great latter day. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-15018228264494171022016-06-06T16:17:00.002-07:002016-06-06T16:17:28.006-07:00You Can Make the Pathway BrightYou Can Make The Pathway Bright<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Today at 10:28 AM<br />
CC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Ashley Astle Ashley Richardson Dan R Gerald Travis Kaden Nielsen and 10 more...You Can Make The Pathway Bright<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Today at 10:28 AM<br />
CC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Ashley Astle Ashley Richardson Dan R Gerald Travis Kaden Nielsen and 10 more...<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!<br />
So this was really good. It was fairly busy. So were able to see Bill with the Davis family on monday. Tuesday we had district meeting and we saw miss pat and sister fresh. Wednesday we saw Brian then we helped a family that moved out of the branch all day. Hopefully that will be the last move on my mission. HAHA. We also helped out with a primary activity. After we helped and finished the family move.<br />
<br />
Friday we saw Clarence, Bill, and the Lomas family. Saturday it rained a ton but we saw Brian, Miss. Pat, and The lomas family again. The Lomas family will be moving soon to Texas and they have everything boxed up ready to go. <br />
<br />
Sunday we saw Jose and a new guy we met named Herman. After we went by Bro Stanleys and then we went and saw Dalton.<br />
<br />
So my spiritual thought comes from Bruce R. McConkie's talk The Mystery of Mormonism. Many people wonder who we are. Definitely there are many false rumors and reports on us. This is a great talk that clarify s our teachings and principles.<br />
<br />
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1979/10/the-mystery-of-mormonism?lang=eng<br />
<br />
I shall speak as a second witness to the things of which President N. Eldon Tanner has just so eloquently and fervently testified. We have some words to speak to the world at large. We address ourselves particularly to those inquiring minds who desire to hear some new doctrine, to see some strange sight, to unravel (shall we not say it?) the greatest mystery of the religious world—the mystery of Mormonism.<br />
<br />
We are a peculiar people; we are a congregation of true believers who are unique and different from all others; we are the Saints of the Most High who are assembling together in many nations to build up Zion and to prepare a people for the second coming of the Son of Man.<br />
<br />
We are called Mormons. Many people look upon us as a singular sect as they cry: “Delusion, false prophets, polygamy,” as once was so common; or “Racists, antiwomen, patriarchal dictators,” as some now say; or “Worshippers of Adam and deniers of Christ and his grace,” as others falsely acclaim; or whatever sophistry of the moment will sow the seeds of prejudice among those who otherwise might learn who we are and what we believe.<br />
<br />
Oftentimes it seems to us that these cries from shallow minds and these self-serving statements of those who resent our rapid growth and increasing influence in the world and these voices whose social and political views we do not espouse are but another evidence of the truth and divinity of the work itself. The devil is not dead, and as his voice was once raised in cries of “Crucify him, crucify him,” so it now shrieks in shrilling hysteria against Christ’s people in this day.<br />
<br />
We feel it is not too much to ask, in this age of enlightenment and open dialogue, to let us be the ones who tell who we are, what we believe, and why our cause is going forward in such a marvelous way.<br />
<br />
We glory in our designation as a peculiar people. It is our desire to be unique—different from other men—because we have forsaken the world and have made a covenant to live godly lives and to walk in paths of truth and virtue.<br />
<br />
It is our hope that it may ever be said of us, as Peter avouched of the true believers in his day: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).<br />
<br />
Now out of a decent respect for the views and concerns of our fellowmen—Christian and non-Christian, Jew and Gentile alike—we shall set forth some of those things which we believe and know to be true.<br />
<br />
Our way of life, the security and joy that fill our souls, our hope of glory and honor hereafter all grow out of our doctrine, out of our theology, out of the revealed truths that have come to us. And if we have a better way of life, surely those who are honest in heart will desire to know what we believe and how it changes and uplifts men.<br />
<br />
And so in words of soberness we say:<br />
<br />
There is a God in heaven, a glorious personage, a holy man, who knows all things, has all power, and is infinite and eternal.<br />
<br />
He is the Supreme Being, the Eternal Absolute, the Creator and peopler of worlds without number. He is our Father in Heaven, and he lives in the family unit.<br />
<br />
We are his spirit children; all of us dwelt in the Eternal Presence before the foundations of this earth were laid; we have seen his face, heard his voice, and felt his spirit.<br />
<br />
He ordained and established the laws whereby his children might advance and progress and become like him. These laws constitute the plan of salvation; they are the gospel of God.<br />
<br />
This glorious gospel called for the creation of this earth as a place where man would come to gain a mortal body and be tried and tested as he walked by faith.<br />
<br />
It called for the fall of Adam so that temporal and spiritual death would enter the world and pass upon all men.<br />
<br />
It called for an infinite and eternal atonement—wrought by One who would be the Only Begotten in the flesh—which atonement would ransom men from their fallen state.<br />
<br />
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the Father, was chosen for this high and exalted labor. He was born of Mary in time’s meridian and was crucified for the sins of the world.<br />
<br />
Thus salvation is in Christ; it comes through his goodness and grace and because of his atoning sacrifice; he came “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).<br />
<br />
He is our Savior and Redeemer. His was a ministry of mediation and of reconciliation; he brought to pass the great and eternal plan of redemption. Because of him we can be justified; we can be sanctified; we can be saved with an eternal salvation. He is our God and we are his people, and we sing praises to his holy name forever!<br />
<br />
On our part, to give full efficacy to his atonement and to claim for ourselves the cleansing power of his blood, we must believe in him and in his Father, repent of our sins, covenant in the waters of baptism to love and serve them all our days, and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.<br />
<br />
Thereafter, guided by that holy monitor, we must walk in the light, keep the commandments, and overcome the world. Such is the plan of salvation for all men in all ages. Such is the plan that has been revealed from age to age so that fallen man might work out his salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord (see Philip. 2:12).<br />
<br />
And now—hear it, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth—the great God, who is Father to us all, who loves all his children, and who pleads with all men to repent and be saved, the great God in heaven above has commenced the promised restoration of all things.<br />
<br />
He speaks; the voice of God is heard again. He appears; mortal man once more sees the face of his Maker. He commands; the word of truth, the gospel of his Son, goes forth anew.<br />
<br />
As the Father was in Christ manifesting himself to the world in the last dispensation, so in our day the Son becomes his voice and witness and revealer.<br />
<br />
“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” the Father said in the spring of 1820 (JS—H 1:17). From that moment the divine word pours forth; line upon line, precept upon precept, as rapidly as the Saints are able to receive it.<br />
<br />
The Book of Mormon is revealed, translated, and published to the world by the gift and power of God. The truths in the Bible are reaffirmed and new revelations come, setting forth things which few have known from the foundations of the earth.<br />
<br />
Angelic ministrants also come. They confer upon mortals keys and powers and priesthoods.<br />
<br />
John the Baptist confers the Aaronic Priesthood with all its keys and powers. Peter, James, and John bring back the Melchizedek Priesthood, the holy apostleship, the keys of the kingdom, and the divine commission to preach the gospel to every creature.<br />
<br />
Moses comes, commanding that Israel be gathered the second time. Elijah brings the sealing power so that once again man can bind and loose both on earth and in heaven.<br />
<br />
And so it has gone until the gospel has been restored in its everlasting fulness, until The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been perfected, until the kingdom of God on earth has been established and is rolling forth, clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners (see Song 6:10).<br />
<br />
This holy gospel is for the salvation of the living and the dead. They with us may become heirs of salvation when they believe and obey in that eternal world. Ours is the privilege of performing for them the ordinances of salvation in holy temples built for that purpose.<br />
<br />
By the power of the gospel we are gathering Israel as literally as Moses did. Hundreds of thousands of converts have forsaken their all in the Egypt of the world to enter a land of promise with the Saints.<br />
<br />
In this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we worship a God of miracles who has given us the same gifts enjoyed by the ancients. We do not boast, yet it is no secret that among the faithful the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dead are raised.<br />
<br />
We also have the same organization that governed in the earthly kingdom in Jesus’ day. Apostles and prophets speak and minister as of old.<br />
<br />
Among us, women and the family unit are held in higher esteem than anywhere else on earth. Our mothers and wives and daughters receive greater honors, perform more responsible labors, and develop their native talents to a greater degree than do any of the women of the world.<br />
<br />
Indeed the whole aim and purpose of the gospel is to enable men and women—united as one in the Lord—to create for themselves eternal family units in eternity. Celestial marriage prepares us for the greatest joy and happiness known to mortals and for eternal life in the realms ahead.<br />
<br />
May we say, as many have done before, that what men call Mormonism is the very system of laws and truths which will make of earth a heaven and of man a god.<br />
<br />
What, then, is the mystery and wonder of it all? This glorious gospel, this perfect plan of life and salvation, this mystery of mysteries—this Mormonism if you will—is the eternal truth of heaven.<br />
<br />
It is pure diamond truth. It is the voice of God calling to his children. It is revelation and angels and visions and gifts of the Spirit. It is the Holy Ghost bearing record to a contrite soul. And it is that same Holy Spirit cleansing and sanctifying the obedient so that they can go where God and Christ are and dwell with them eternally in the heavens.<br />
<br />
It may be a mystery to the carnal mind, but it is plain and clear and sweet to those who are born of the Spirit so as to be able to see the kingdom of God.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, let us hear a prophetic voice:<br />
<br />
We prophesy—it is my voice you hear, but it is the united voice of all my Brethren which speaks—we prophesy that this great latter-day work will come off triumphant, that the great God will guide the destinies of his people, that this kingdom of God now set up on earth will roll forth until the kingdom of heaven shall come, until the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again in the clouds of heaven to reign gloriously among his Latter-day Saints.<br />
<br />
And we invite all who will to come and partake of the goodness of God, that they may gain peace in this life and be inheritors of eternal life in the world to come.<br />
<br />
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
<br />
MAY YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!! The church is true! Doubt your Doubts before you doubt your faith!!! SEE YALL in 3 weeks!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
Brighten your day.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!<br />
So this was really good. It was fairly busy. So were able to see Bill with the Davis family on monday. Tuesday we had district meeting and we saw miss pat and sister fresh. Wednesday we saw Brian then we helped a family that moved out of the branch all day. Hopefully that will be the last move on my mission. HAHA. We also helped out with a primary activity. After we helped and finished the family move.<br />
<br />
Friday we saw Clarence, Bill, and the Lomas family. Saturday it rained a ton but we saw Brian, Miss. Pat, and The lomas family again. The Lomas family will be moving soon to Texas and they have everything boxed up ready to go. <br />
<br />
Sunday we saw Jose and a new guy we met named Herman. After we went by Bro Stanleys and then we went and saw Dalton.<br />
<br />
So my spiritual thought comes from Bruce R. McConkie's talk The Mystery of Mormonism. Many people wonder who we are. Definitely there are many false rumors and reports on us. This is a great talk that clarify s our teachings and principles.<br />
<br />
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1979/10/the-mystery-of-mormonism?lang=eng<br />
<br />
I shall speak as a second witness to the things of which President N. Eldon Tanner has just so eloquently and fervently testified. We have some words to speak to the world at large. We address ourselves particularly to those inquiring minds who desire to hear some new doctrine, to see some strange sight, to unravel (shall we not say it?) the greatest mystery of the religious world—the mystery of Mormonism.<br />
<br />
We are a peculiar people; we are a congregation of true believers who are unique and different from all others; we are the Saints of the Most High who are assembling together in many nations to build up Zion and to prepare a people for the second coming of the Son of Man.<br />
<br />
We are called Mormons. Many people look upon us as a singular sect as they cry: “Delusion, false prophets, polygamy,” as once was so common; or “Racists, antiwomen, patriarchal dictators,” as some now say; or “Worshippers of Adam and deniers of Christ and his grace,” as others falsely acclaim; or whatever sophistry of the moment will sow the seeds of prejudice among those who otherwise might learn who we are and what we believe.<br />
<br />
Oftentimes it seems to us that these cries from shallow minds and these self-serving statements of those who resent our rapid growth and increasing influence in the world and these voices whose social and political views we do not espouse are but another evidence of the truth and divinity of the work itself. The devil is not dead, and as his voice was once raised in cries of “Crucify him, crucify him,” so it now shrieks in shrilling hysteria against Christ’s people in this day.<br />
<br />
We feel it is not too much to ask, in this age of enlightenment and open dialogue, to let us be the ones who tell who we are, what we believe, and why our cause is going forward in such a marvelous way.<br />
<br />
We glory in our designation as a peculiar people. It is our desire to be unique—different from other men—because we have forsaken the world and have made a covenant to live godly lives and to walk in paths of truth and virtue.<br />
<br />
It is our hope that it may ever be said of us, as Peter avouched of the true believers in his day: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).<br />
<br />
Now out of a decent respect for the views and concerns of our fellowmen—Christian and non-Christian, Jew and Gentile alike—we shall set forth some of those things which we believe and know to be true.<br />
<br />
Our way of life, the security and joy that fill our souls, our hope of glory and honor hereafter all grow out of our doctrine, out of our theology, out of the revealed truths that have come to us. And if we have a better way of life, surely those who are honest in heart will desire to know what we believe and how it changes and uplifts men.<br />
<br />
And so in words of soberness we say:<br />
<br />
There is a God in heaven, a glorious personage, a holy man, who knows all things, has all power, and is infinite and eternal.<br />
<br />
He is the Supreme Being, the Eternal Absolute, the Creator and peopler of worlds without number. He is our Father in Heaven, and he lives in the family unit.<br />
<br />
We are his spirit children; all of us dwelt in the Eternal Presence before the foundations of this earth were laid; we have seen his face, heard his voice, and felt his spirit.<br />
<br />
He ordained and established the laws whereby his children might advance and progress and become like him. These laws constitute the plan of salvation; they are the gospel of God.<br />
<br />
This glorious gospel called for the creation of this earth as a place where man would come to gain a mortal body and be tried and tested as he walked by faith.<br />
<br />
It called for the fall of Adam so that temporal and spiritual death would enter the world and pass upon all men.<br />
<br />
It called for an infinite and eternal atonement—wrought by One who would be the Only Begotten in the flesh—which atonement would ransom men from their fallen state.<br />
<br />
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the Father, was chosen for this high and exalted labor. He was born of Mary in time’s meridian and was crucified for the sins of the world.<br />
<br />
Thus salvation is in Christ; it comes through his goodness and grace and because of his atoning sacrifice; he came “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).<br />
<br />
He is our Savior and Redeemer. His was a ministry of mediation and of reconciliation; he brought to pass the great and eternal plan of redemption. Because of him we can be justified; we can be sanctified; we can be saved with an eternal salvation. He is our God and we are his people, and we sing praises to his holy name forever!<br />
<br />
On our part, to give full efficacy to his atonement and to claim for ourselves the cleansing power of his blood, we must believe in him and in his Father, repent of our sins, covenant in the waters of baptism to love and serve them all our days, and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.<br />
<br />
Thereafter, guided by that holy monitor, we must walk in the light, keep the commandments, and overcome the world. Such is the plan of salvation for all men in all ages. Such is the plan that has been revealed from age to age so that fallen man might work out his salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord (see Philip. 2:12).<br />
<br />
And now—hear it, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth—the great God, who is Father to us all, who loves all his children, and who pleads with all men to repent and be saved, the great God in heaven above has commenced the promised restoration of all things.<br />
<br />
He speaks; the voice of God is heard again. He appears; mortal man once more sees the face of his Maker. He commands; the word of truth, the gospel of his Son, goes forth anew.<br />
<br />
As the Father was in Christ manifesting himself to the world in the last dispensation, so in our day the Son becomes his voice and witness and revealer.<br />
<br />
“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” the Father said in the spring of 1820 (JS—H 1:17). From that moment the divine word pours forth; line upon line, precept upon precept, as rapidly as the Saints are able to receive it.<br />
<br />
The Book of Mormon is revealed, translated, and published to the world by the gift and power of God. The truths in the Bible are reaffirmed and new revelations come, setting forth things which few have known from the foundations of the earth.<br />
<br />
Angelic ministrants also come. They confer upon mortals keys and powers and priesthoods.<br />
<br />
John the Baptist confers the Aaronic Priesthood with all its keys and powers. Peter, James, and John bring back the Melchizedek Priesthood, the holy apostleship, the keys of the kingdom, and the divine commission to preach the gospel to every creature.<br />
<br />
Moses comes, commanding that Israel be gathered the second time. Elijah brings the sealing power so that once again man can bind and loose both on earth and in heaven.<br />
<br />
And so it has gone until the gospel has been restored in its everlasting fulness, until The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been perfected, until the kingdom of God on earth has been established and is rolling forth, clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners (see Song 6:10).<br />
<br />
This holy gospel is for the salvation of the living and the dead. They with us may become heirs of salvation when they believe and obey in that eternal world. Ours is the privilege of performing for them the ordinances of salvation in holy temples built for that purpose.<br />
<br />
By the power of the gospel we are gathering Israel as literally as Moses did. Hundreds of thousands of converts have forsaken their all in the Egypt of the world to enter a land of promise with the Saints.<br />
<br />
In this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we worship a God of miracles who has given us the same gifts enjoyed by the ancients. We do not boast, yet it is no secret that among the faithful the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dead are raised.<br />
<br />
We also have the same organization that governed in the earthly kingdom in Jesus’ day. Apostles and prophets speak and minister as of old.<br />
<br />
Among us, women and the family unit are held in higher esteem than anywhere else on earth. Our mothers and wives and daughters receive greater honors, perform more responsible labors, and develop their native talents to a greater degree than do any of the women of the world.<br />
<br />
Indeed the whole aim and purpose of the gospel is to enable men and women—united as one in the Lord—to create for themselves eternal family units in eternity. Celestial marriage prepares us for the greatest joy and happiness known to mortals and for eternal life in the realms ahead.<br />
<br />
May we say, as many have done before, that what men call Mormonism is the very system of laws and truths which will make of earth a heaven and of man a god.<br />
<br />
What, then, is the mystery and wonder of it all? This glorious gospel, this perfect plan of life and salvation, this mystery of mysteries—this Mormonism if you will—is the eternal truth of heaven.<br />
<br />
It is pure diamond truth. It is the voice of God calling to his children. It is revelation and angels and visions and gifts of the Spirit. It is the Holy Ghost bearing record to a contrite soul. And it is that same Holy Spirit cleansing and sanctifying the obedient so that they can go where God and Christ are and dwell with them eternally in the heavens.<br />
<br />
It may be a mystery to the carnal mind, but it is plain and clear and sweet to those who are born of the Spirit so as to be able to see the kingdom of God.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, let us hear a prophetic voice:<br />
<br />
We prophesy—it is my voice you hear, but it is the united voice of all my Brethren which speaks—we prophesy that this great latter-day work will come off triumphant, that the great God will guide the destinies of his people, that this kingdom of God now set up on earth will roll forth until the kingdom of heaven shall come, until the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again in the clouds of heaven to reign gloriously among his Latter-day Saints.<br />
<br />
And we invite all who will to come and partake of the goodness of God, that they may gain peace in this life and be inheritors of eternal life in the world to come.<br />
<br />
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
<br />
MAY YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!! The church is true! Doubt your Doubts before you doubt your faith!!! SEE YALL in 3 weeks!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
Brighten your day.<br />
<div>
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<br />LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-37387829557265644152016-06-06T16:12:00.004-07:002016-06-06T16:12:49.033-07:00America the BeautifulThe Morning Breaks<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> May 2 at 11:48 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
This message contains blocked images.Show Images Change this setting<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
OH MY GOODNESS!!! WHAT A WEEK!!!! Two things that I have learned this week. 1. Satan is real. 2. God is at all times providing ways to bring forth is purposes in bringing his ransom children home. So lets begin with the week!<br />
<br />
This week we got to see Grandpa Bill twice. One time he took us to a really good Sea food place with fried crab, fried oyster, fried catfish, fried shrimp. It was so good.<br />
<br />
We also had FHE with sister Garza and bro Eric. It was really good. We did a lot of tracting and one of the last houses in the neighborhood was friends with our branch mission leader and his wife. We also saw Brain, Jose, and Mario. It was really good.<br />
<br />
WELL...... To the story. On Tuesday we visted Aurora and the girls and scheduled their interview on Saturday at 3. They were telling us how Aurora makes them read the BOM every morning and read James 1:5. they said that testing has become so much more easier because of James 1:5. Aurora is an amazing for helping them! We got a phone call saturday morning from Aurora that Alex would be home so we could do the Baptism. Saturday morning we had a service project 20 miles south of New Iberia in a small town called Baldwin in our area with our branch mission leader to pick up trash for the city of Baldwin. After we finished we had lunch and then it started raining. Mama Fran our branch leaders wife told us we should leave before it gets too bad. Driving home was crazy!!!! It was raining in every direction the wind was blowing really bad. IT was probably the worst rain I had ever been in and I was driving in it HAHA. We came to an area where it was a farm land and fields and lighting was striking everywhere. It was really cool! We got to New Iberia safely but town was flooded! We could not get home. We went up on the railroad tracks on Jefferson Terrace and when we got to the top the road was flooded. Cars had there emergency lights on that must have been flooded. So we took another way. We got to E Dale where our apartment is and it was flooded. We were able to pull up on an area to be safe from the floods. We decided to walk to our complex which was also flooded. The water was to our knees!!! We were able to find a place we could get to and park and wait until the waters reseeded. Well we finally got a text we were on lockdown so the District leader couldn't come down from Lafayette. Finally around 5 the waters begin to drain so we could go get our car. Finally we get the clear around 6 that we can do the interview. The girls get interview first. We were still unsure if Aurora was going to get baptized. When I finished the girls records I asked her and she said she was going to ask Alex. When she went and asked he said he wanted to be baptized also!!!!!! WE COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!! He was already qualified since he had been to church way more than three times and had been taught all of the lessons! Well we thought nothing could bring us down from there..... WE were wrong. It proved from then on to be the Refiners fire. We ran into a hurdle during Auroras interview. We understood why she was afraid to be baptized that made it so that President needed to interview her. He said he would come down on sunday so it could not be delayed. We finished all of the interviews at 9. Aurora came up to me and said Quiero usted a bautizar me porque usted mi hijo. That made me feel really good. So the next day came and it was raining hard again!!!! We made it to the church and planed the baptism and quickly as we could. We were unable to do programs. We went to go fill up the font and when we got to the font it was filled with sewage water coming from the drain. It was raining so much that water was coming up from the font. We said a prayer that the rain would stop or slow down so everyone could get to church and water would stop coming into the font. We plugged it and went to sacrament. Everyone was able to make it including President from Baton Rouge without any problems. During testimony meeting Alex went up and bore his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! He talked about the example of his daughters and the happiness the church has brought them. After President did his interview with Aurora and we went to go fix the font. Water stopped coming from the drain but the font was a mess. We started taking buckets to take the water out. IT WAS NASTY!!!! By this time I was getting really really stressed but I had faith that the Lord would bring about his purpose. The branch president came in and said that even if we were to clean it how would it drain after we filled it. So he had it changed to the Lafayette building. After Auroras interview we ended up having interviews. It was really good. President kept talking about the 5 baptisms. We also had a temple recommend interview because my recommend expires this month. So we ended up to the Baptism with the Davis family just before we left a member without a car asked for a ride so we went to go pick him up. We got there 5 minutes before it was suppose to start. We ran into the bathrooms to change and trying to find a jumpsuit for Horrocks. We hurried and wrote down the program for our branch mission leader. Sister Hansen ran right in front to take a picture of us. We were able to take a picture in white with them just before the ordinace but I still have to get it from them.<br />
<br />
The baptismal service was awesome. I got to Baptize Aurora and little Aurora and confirm Kayla, Mishelle, and Alex. It was so amazing! I felt like it was my parents and sisters also. I am so grateful for the inspiration that assigned me to New Iberia to meet this wonderful family. I love the Lomas family so much! I could not explain the joy that came to my heart. Coming back from the baptism there was a break in the clouds with some sun coming through the words of the hymn The Morning Breaks came to my mind.<br />
1. The morning breaks, the shadows flee;<br />
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!<br />
The dawning of a brighter day,<br />
The dawning of a brighter day<br />
Majestic rises on the world.<br />
2. The clouds of error disappear<br />
Before the rays of truth divine;<br />
The glory bursting from afar,<br />
The glory bursting from afar<br />
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.<br />
3. The Gentile fulness now comes in,<br />
And Israel's blessings are at hand.<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.<br />
4. Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,<br />
And Gentile nations turn and live.<br />
His mighty arm is making bare,<br />
His mighty arm is making bare<br />
His cov'nant people to receive.<br />
5. --Angels from heav'n and truth from earth<br />
Have met, and both have record borne;<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth<br />
To bring her ransomed children home<br />
<br />
<br />
While the storms of life may surround us and it seems that all hope is lost. The Lord always brings about his purposes. There must be oppostistion in all things. I wouldn't have learned a lot of stuff I did had the baptism gone smoothly. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the peace and happiness it brings to families. I love my mission so much. Each day I understand more and more why I was called to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission spanish speaking. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God. Thomas S. Monson is his successor today. The Book of mormon is true. May yall have an amazing week and may God keep yall safe!!! <br />
<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
<br />
SAM_1689 .JPG<br />
Brighten your day.LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-56693303171062782422016-06-06T16:11:00.001-07:002016-06-06T16:11:13.262-07:00Come All Ye SaintsThe Morning Breaks<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> May 2 at 11:48 AM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
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Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
OH MY GOODNESS!!! WHAT A WEEK!!!! Two things that I have learned this week. 1. Satan is real. 2. God is at all times providing ways to bring forth is purposes in bringing his ransom children home. So lets begin with the week!<br />
<br />
This week we got to see Grandpa Bill twice. One time he took us to a really good Sea food place with fried crab, fried oyster, fried catfish, fried shrimp. It was so good.<br />
<br />
We also had FHE with sister Garza and bro Eric. It was really good. We did a lot of tracting and one of the last houses in the neighborhood was friends with our branch mission leader and his wife. We also saw Brain, Jose, and Mario. It was really good.<br />
<br />
WELL...... To the story. On Tuesday we visted Aurora and the girls and scheduled their interview on Saturday at 3. They were telling us how Aurora makes them read the BOM every morning and read James 1:5. they said that testing has become so much more easier because of James 1:5. Aurora is an amazing for helping them! We got a phone call saturday morning from Aurora that Alex would be home so we could do the Baptism. Saturday morning we had a service project 20 miles south of New Iberia in a small town called Baldwin in our area with our branch mission leader to pick up trash for the city of Baldwin. After we finished we had lunch and then it started raining. Mama Fran our branch leaders wife told us we should leave before it gets too bad. Driving home was crazy!!!! It was raining in every direction the wind was blowing really bad. IT was probably the worst rain I had ever been in and I was driving in it HAHA. We came to an area where it was a farm land and fields and lighting was striking everywhere. It was really cool! We got to New Iberia safely but town was flooded! We could not get home. We went up on the railroad tracks on Jefferson Terrace and when we got to the top the road was flooded. Cars had there emergency lights on that must have been flooded. So we took another way. We got to E Dale where our apartment is and it was flooded. We were able to pull up on an area to be safe from the floods. We decided to walk to our complex which was also flooded. The water was to our knees!!! We were able to find a place we could get to and park and wait until the waters reseeded. Well we finally got a text we were on lockdown so the District leader couldn't come down from Lafayette. Finally around 5 the waters begin to drain so we could go get our car. Finally we get the clear around 6 that we can do the interview. The girls get interview first. We were still unsure if Aurora was going to get baptized. When I finished the girls records I asked her and she said she was going to ask Alex. When she went and asked he said he wanted to be baptized also!!!!!! WE COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!! He was already qualified since he had been to church way more than three times and had been taught all of the lessons! Well we thought nothing could bring us down from there..... WE were wrong. It proved from then on to be the Refiners fire. We ran into a hurdle during Auroras interview. We understood why she was afraid to be baptized that made it so that President needed to interview her. He said he would come down on sunday so it could not be delayed. We finished all of the interviews at 9. Aurora came up to me and said Quiero usted a bautizar me porque usted mi hijo. That made me feel really good. So the next day came and it was raining hard again!!!! We made it to the church and planed the baptism and quickly as we could. We were unable to do programs. We went to go fill up the font and when we got to the font it was filled with sewage water coming from the drain. It was raining so much that water was coming up from the font. We said a prayer that the rain would stop or slow down so everyone could get to church and water would stop coming into the font. We plugged it and went to sacrament. Everyone was able to make it including President from Baton Rouge without any problems. During testimony meeting Alex went up and bore his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! He talked about the example of his daughters and the happiness the church has brought them. After President did his interview with Aurora and we went to go fix the font. Water stopped coming from the drain but the font was a mess. We started taking buckets to take the water out. IT WAS NASTY!!!! By this time I was getting really really stressed but I had faith that the Lord would bring about his purpose. The branch president came in and said that even if we were to clean it how would it drain after we filled it. So he had it changed to the Lafayette building. After Auroras interview we ended up having interviews. It was really good. President kept talking about the 5 baptisms. We also had a temple recommend interview because my recommend expires this month. So we ended up to the Baptism with the Davis family just before we left a member without a car asked for a ride so we went to go pick him up. We got there 5 minutes before it was suppose to start. We ran into the bathrooms to change and trying to find a jumpsuit for Horrocks. We hurried and wrote down the program for our branch mission leader. Sister Hansen ran right in front to take a picture of us. We were able to take a picture in white with them just before the ordinace but I still have to get it from them.<br />
<br />
The baptismal service was awesome. I got to Baptize Aurora and little Aurora and confirm Kayla, Mishelle, and Alex. It was so amazing! I felt like it was my parents and sisters also. I am so grateful for the inspiration that assigned me to New Iberia to meet this wonderful family. I love the Lomas family so much! I could not explain the joy that came to my heart. Coming back from the baptism there was a break in the clouds with some sun coming through the words of the hymn The Morning Breaks came to my mind.<br />
1. The morning breaks, the shadows flee;<br />
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!<br />
The dawning of a brighter day,<br />
The dawning of a brighter day<br />
Majestic rises on the world.<br />
2. The clouds of error disappear<br />
Before the rays of truth divine;<br />
The glory bursting from afar,<br />
The glory bursting from afar<br />
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.<br />
3. The Gentile fulness now comes in,<br />
And Israel's blessings are at hand.<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.<br />
4. Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,<br />
And Gentile nations turn and live.<br />
His mighty arm is making bare,<br />
His mighty arm is making bare<br />
His cov'nant people to receive.<br />
5. --Angels from heav'n and truth from earth<br />
Have met, and both have record borne;<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth<br />
To bring her ransomed children home<br />
<br />
<br />
While the storms of life may surround us and it seems that all hope is lost. The Lord always brings about his purposes. There must be oppostistion in all things. I wouldn't have learned a lot of stuff I did had the baptism gone smoothly. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the peace and happiness it brings to families. I love my mission so much. Each day I understand more and more why I was called to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission spanish speaking. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God. Thomas S. Monson is his successor today. The Book of mormon is true. May yall have an amazing week and may God keep yall safe!!! <br />
<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
<br />
SAM_1689 .JPG<br />
Brighten your day.LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-86131285717900786502016-06-06T16:09:00.003-07:002016-06-06T16:09:46.018-07:00Battle Hymn of the RepublicThe Morning Breaks<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> May 2 at 11:48 AM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
This message contains blocked images.Show Images Change this setting<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
OH MY GOODNESS!!! WHAT A WEEK!!!! Two things that I have learned this week. 1. Satan is real. 2. God is at all times providing ways to bring forth is purposes in bringing his ransom children home. So lets begin with the week!<br />
<br />
This week we got to see Grandpa Bill twice. One time he took us to a really good Sea food place with fried crab, fried oyster, fried catfish, fried shrimp. It was so good.<br />
<br />
We also had FHE with sister Garza and bro Eric. It was really good. We did a lot of tracting and one of the last houses in the neighborhood was friends with our branch mission leader and his wife. We also saw Brain, Jose, and Mario. It was really good.<br />
<br />
WELL...... To the story. On Tuesday we visted Aurora and the girls and scheduled their interview on Saturday at 3. They were telling us how Aurora makes them read the BOM every morning and read James 1:5. they said that testing has become so much more easier because of James 1:5. Aurora is an amazing for helping them! We got a phone call saturday morning from Aurora that Alex would be home so we could do the Baptism. Saturday morning we had a service project 20 miles south of New Iberia in a small town called Baldwin in our area with our branch mission leader to pick up trash for the city of Baldwin. After we finished we had lunch and then it started raining. Mama Fran our branch leaders wife told us we should leave before it gets too bad. Driving home was crazy!!!! It was raining in every direction the wind was blowing really bad. IT was probably the worst rain I had ever been in and I was driving in it HAHA. We came to an area where it was a farm land and fields and lighting was striking everywhere. It was really cool! We got to New Iberia safely but town was flooded! We could not get home. We went up on the railroad tracks on Jefferson Terrace and when we got to the top the road was flooded. Cars had there emergency lights on that must have been flooded. So we took another way. We got to E Dale where our apartment is and it was flooded. We were able to pull up on an area to be safe from the floods. We decided to walk to our complex which was also flooded. The water was to our knees!!! We were able to find a place we could get to and park and wait until the waters reseeded. Well we finally got a text we were on lockdown so the District leader couldn't come down from Lafayette. Finally around 5 the waters begin to drain so we could go get our car. Finally we get the clear around 6 that we can do the interview. The girls get interview first. We were still unsure if Aurora was going to get baptized. When I finished the girls records I asked her and she said she was going to ask Alex. When she went and asked he said he wanted to be baptized also!!!!!! WE COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!! He was already qualified since he had been to church way more than three times and had been taught all of the lessons! Well we thought nothing could bring us down from there..... WE were wrong. It proved from then on to be the Refiners fire. We ran into a hurdle during Auroras interview. We understood why she was afraid to be baptized that made it so that President needed to interview her. He said he would come down on sunday so it could not be delayed. We finished all of the interviews at 9. Aurora came up to me and said Quiero usted a bautizar me porque usted mi hijo. That made me feel really good. So the next day came and it was raining hard again!!!! We made it to the church and planed the baptism and quickly as we could. We were unable to do programs. We went to go fill up the font and when we got to the font it was filled with sewage water coming from the drain. It was raining so much that water was coming up from the font. We said a prayer that the rain would stop or slow down so everyone could get to church and water would stop coming into the font. We plugged it and went to sacrament. Everyone was able to make it including President from Baton Rouge without any problems. During testimony meeting Alex went up and bore his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! He talked about the example of his daughters and the happiness the church has brought them. After President did his interview with Aurora and we went to go fix the font. Water stopped coming from the drain but the font was a mess. We started taking buckets to take the water out. IT WAS NASTY!!!! By this time I was getting really really stressed but I had faith that the Lord would bring about his purpose. The branch president came in and said that even if we were to clean it how would it drain after we filled it. So he had it changed to the Lafayette building. After Auroras interview we ended up having interviews. It was really good. President kept talking about the 5 baptisms. We also had a temple recommend interview because my recommend expires this month. So we ended up to the Baptism with the Davis family just before we left a member without a car asked for a ride so we went to go pick him up. We got there 5 minutes before it was suppose to start. We ran into the bathrooms to change and trying to find a jumpsuit for Horrocks. We hurried and wrote down the program for our branch mission leader. Sister Hansen ran right in front to take a picture of us. We were able to take a picture in white with them just before the ordinace but I still have to get it from them.<br />
<br />
The baptismal service was awesome. I got to Baptize Aurora and little Aurora and confirm Kayla, Mishelle, and Alex. It was so amazing! I felt like it was my parents and sisters also. I am so grateful for the inspiration that assigned me to New Iberia to meet this wonderful family. I love the Lomas family so much! I could not explain the joy that came to my heart. Coming back from the baptism there was a break in the clouds with some sun coming through the words of the hymn The Morning Breaks came to my mind.<br />
1. The morning breaks, the shadows flee;<br />
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!<br />
The dawning of a brighter day,<br />
The dawning of a brighter day<br />
Majestic rises on the world.<br />
2. The clouds of error disappear<br />
Before the rays of truth divine;<br />
The glory bursting from afar,<br />
The glory bursting from afar<br />
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.<br />
3. The Gentile fulness now comes in,<br />
And Israel's blessings are at hand.<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.<br />
4. Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,<br />
And Gentile nations turn and live.<br />
His mighty arm is making bare,<br />
His mighty arm is making bare<br />
His cov'nant people to receive.<br />
5. --Angels from heav'n and truth from earth<br />
Have met, and both have record borne;<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth<br />
To bring her ransomed children home<br />
<br />
<br />
While the storms of life may surround us and it seems that all hope is lost. The Lord always brings about his purposes. There must be oppostistion in all things. I wouldn't have learned a lot of stuff I did had the baptism gone smoothly. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the peace and happiness it brings to families. I love my mission so much. Each day I understand more and more why I was called to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission spanish speaking. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God. Thomas S. Monson is his successor today. The Book of mormon is true. May yall have an amazing week and may God keep yall safe!!! <br />
<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
<br />
SAM_1689 .JPG<br />
Brighten your day.LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-56336231091740042222016-06-06T16:04:00.000-07:002016-06-06T16:04:06.341-07:00Rock of SalvationRock of Salvation<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Apr 25 at 2:46 PM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message bodyRock of Salvation<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Apr 25 at 2:46 PM<br />
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Message body<br />
<br />
Hey everybody!!!!<br />
Wow so I typed this email all up and the email service went down and it deleted it all so yippee me in getting to retype it haha!!!! This week was good but it was a little slower.<br />
<br />
So Monday we went by and saw Dalton and taught him the importance of reading the scriptures.<br />
<br />
Tuesday we had district meeting. We saw brother alfaro, jose and brian.<br />
<br />
Wednesday we did service for a referral referred from the Davis family named grandpa bill. He is always over for dinner when we go over. He is really nice and has been to utah a lot with Davis and even been through a temple open house. We helped cleaned his garage. After we went and did fhe at sister Garza with brown eric. We also saw Arora a and her daughters. They want to wait until her husband can be home so we will have to do the baptism on a sunday so it will be a last minute thing because Arora doesn't know until Friday if her husband will be home or not.<br />
<br />
Thursday we went by and saw miss pat. She will be going in for surgery in 2 weeks. We talked about how God helps us in trials. It also rained a ,other on thursday.<br />
<br />
Friday and Saturday we did a ton of tracting.moot much success... it was really really hot!!!<br />
<br />
Sunday we had lunch at brother stanleys and we visited Arora for her daughter Kayla b-day. So my spiritual thought today comes from Bruce R McConkies talk Be valiant in the fight of faith here is the link if you want to listen to it. <br />
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1974/10/be-valiant-in-the-fight-of-faith?lang=eng<br />
<br />
From the pen of Paul, we take this challenge:<br />
<br />
“O man of God, … follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.<br />
<br />
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Tim. 6:11–12.)<br />
<br />
So wrote our fellow apostle to those who had accepted the Son of God as their Savior, who had taken upon themselves the yoke of Christ, who had covenanted in the waters of baptism to serve him and keep his commandments. And so say we to all those today who have in like manner taken upon themselves the name of Christ and enlisted in the cause of truth and righteousness: Be valiant. Fight a good fight. Stand true. Keep the commandments. Overcome the world.<br />
<br />
Speaking of himself and the great warfare with the world which he had won, Paul said:<br />
<br />
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:<br />
<br />
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:7–8.)<br />
<br />
As members of the Church, we are engaged in a mighty conflict. We are at war. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to fight against Lucifer and all that is lustful and carnal and evil in the world. We have sworn to fight alongside our friends and against our enemies, and we must not be confused in distinguishing friends from foes. As another of our ancient fellow apostles wrote: “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4.)<br />
<br />
The great war that rages on every side and which unfortunately is resulting in many casualties, some fatal, is no new thing. There was war even in heaven, when the forces of evil sought to destroy the agency of man, and when Lucifer sought to lead us away from the path of progression and advancement established by an all-wise Father.<br />
<br />
That war is continuing on earth, and the devil is still wroth with the Church and goes forth “to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17.)<br />
<br />
And it is now as it has always been. The Saints can only overcome him and his forces “by the blood of the Lamb, … by the word of their testimony,” and if they love “not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11.)<br />
<br />
Now there neither are nor can be any neutrals in this war. Every member of the Church is on one side or the other. The soldiers who fight in its battles will either, with Paul, come off victorious and win “a crown of righteousness,” or they shall, in Paul’s language, “be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” in that day when he comes to take “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes. 1:9, 8.)<br />
<br />
In this war all who do not stand forth courageously and valiantly are by that fact alone aiding the cause of the enemy. “They who are not for me are against me, saith our God.” (2 Ne. 10:16.)<br />
<br />
We are either for the Church or we are against it. We either take its part or we take the consequences. We cannot survive spiritually with one foot in the Church and the other in the world. We must make the choice. It is either the Church or the world. There is no middle ground. And the Lord loves a courageous man who fights openly and boldly in his army.<br />
<br />
To certain members of his ancient church, he said:<br />
<br />
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.<br />
<br />
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:15–16.) The summer patriot and the sunshine saint retreat when the battle wages fiercely around them. Theirs is not the conqueror’s crown. They are overcome by the world.<br />
<br />
Members of the Church who have testimonies and who live clean and upright lives, but who are not courageous and valiant, do not gain the celestial kingdom. Theirs is a terrestrial inheritance. Of them the revelation says, “These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.” (D&C 76:79.)<br />
<br />
As Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62.)<br />
<br />
What is the testimony of Jesus? And what must we do to be valiant therein?<br />
<br />
“Be not … ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “… but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:8.) And to the Beloved John came this divine message: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10.)<br />
<br />
The testimony of our Lord! The testimony of Jesus! What a glorious and wondrous concept! It opens the door to glory and honor with the Father and the Son forever! The testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ, to receive his gospel, and to live his law.<br />
<br />
Jesus is the Lord. He is God’s own Son who came into the world to ransom us men from the temporal and spiritual death brought upon us by the fall of Adam. Jesus has bought us with his blood. He is the resurrection and the life. He “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:10.) He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Advocate with the Father. “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5.)<br />
<br />
Salvation is in Christ. His is the only name given under heaven whereby this priceless gift may be won. Without him there would be no resurrection and all men would be forever lost. Without him there would be no eternal life, no return to the presence of a gracious Father, no celestial thrones for the saints.<br />
<br />
No tongue can tell, no mind can envision, no heart can conceive of all that comes to us because of him. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” (Rev 5:12.)<br />
<br />
Now there can be no perfect testimony of the divine Sonship of Christ and his saving goodness unless and until we receive the fulness of his everlasting gospel. A testimony of the gospel comes by revelation from the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Spirit speaks to the spirit within us, we then know with an absolute conviction of the verity of the revealed message.<br />
<br />
A testimony is to know by revelation that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith and his successors are the revealers of the knowledge of Christ and of salvation for our day; and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth, the one place where salvation may be found.<br />
<br />
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is a gift of the Spirit. It comes in full measure only to faithful members of the Church. It is reserved for those whose right it is to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It is the spiritual endowment which sets a man apart as a prophet in fulfillment of the prayer of Moses: “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29.)<br />
<br />
Now what does it mean to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus?<br />
<br />
It is to be courageous and bold; to use all our strength, energy, and ability in the warfare with the world; to fight the good fight of faith. “Be strong and of a good courage,” the Lord commanded Joshua, and then specified that this strength and courage consisted of meditating upon and observing to do all that is written in the law of the Lord. (See Josh. 1:6–9.) The great cornerstone of valiance in the cause of righteousness is obedience to the whole law of the whole gospel.<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him”; it is to deny ourselves “of all ungodliness,” and “love God” with all our “might, mind and strength.” (Moro. 10:32.)<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ and his gospel with unshakable conviction. It is to know of the verity and divinity of the Lord’s work on earth.<br />
<br />
But this is not all. It is more than believing and knowing. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. It is more than lip service; it is not simply confessing with the mouth the divine Sonship of the Savior. It is obedience and conformity and personal righteousness. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21.)<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” It is to “endure to the end.” (2 Ne. 31:20.) It is to live our religion, to practice what we preach, to keep the commandments. It is the manifestation of “pure religion” in the lives of men; it is visiting “the fatherless and widows in their affliction” and keeping ourselves “unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27.)<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to bridle our passions, control our appetites, and rise above carnal and evil things. It is to overcome the world as did he who is our prototype and who himself was the most valiant of all our Father’s children. It is to be morally clean, to pay our tithes and offerings, to honor the Sabbath day, to pray with full purpose of heart, to lay our all upon the altar if called upon to do so.<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord’s side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father.<br />
<br />
Our doctrine is clear; its application sometimes seems to be more difficult. Perhaps some personal introspection might be helpful. For instance:<br />
<br />
Am I valiant in the testimony of Jesus if my chief interest and concern in life is laying up in store the treasures of the earth, rather than the building up of the kingdom?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I have more of this world’s goods than my just needs and wants require and I do not draw from my surplus to support missionary work, build temples, and care for the needy?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if my approach to the Church and its doctrines is intellectual only, if I am more concerned with having a religious dialogue on this or that point than I am on gaining a personal spiritual experience?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I am deeply concerned about the Church’s stand on who can or who cannot receive the priesthood and think it is time for a new revelation on this doctrine?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I use a boat, live in a country home, or engage in some other recreational pursuit on weekends that takes me away from my spiritual responsibilities?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I engage in gambling, play cards, go to pornographic movies, shop on Sunday, wear immodest clothes, or do any of the things that are the accepted way of life among worldly people?<br />
<br />
If we are to gain salvation, we must put first in our lives the things of God’s kingdom. With us it must be the kingdom of God or nothing. We have come out of darkness; ours is the marvelous light of Christ. We must walk in the light.<br />
<br />
Now I don’t pretend to be able to read the future, but I have a very strong feeling that conditions in the world are not going to get better. They are going to get worse until the coming of the Son of Man, which is the end of the world, when the wicked will be destroyed.<br />
<br />
I think the world is going to get worse, and the faithful portion of the Church, at least, is going to get better. The day is coming, more than ever has been the case in the past, when we will be under the obligation of making a choice, of standing up for the Church, of adhering to its precepts and teachings and principles, of taking the counsel that comes from the apostles and prophets whom God has placed to teach the doctrine and bear witness to the world. The day is coming when this will be more necessary than has ever been the case in our day or at any time in our dispensation.<br />
<br />
Now this is the Lord’s work. It is God’s work. It is our Father’s business. His hand is in it. There is nothing in this world that compares in any way in importance with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation, and if we will walk and live and be and move and breathe and think the gospel and its cause, always and everlastingly, then we can have peace and joy and happiness in this life and we can go on to eternal glory in the life to come.<br />
<br />
We teach and we testify. We have here this day taught eternal principles of truth; and whenever we teach by the power of the Holy Spirit, it becomes our prerogative to bear witness and testimony that the doctrines we have proclaimed are true and that if men will abide by and conform to them, all the blessings that a gracious Father desires to confer upon them will be theirs.<br />
<br />
I bear witness of the truth of the doctrines that have been proclaimed and testify anew that Jesus is the Lord, that salvation is in him, that his is the only name under heaven whereby we may be saved in God’s kingdom.<br />
<br />
God grant us the wisdom and vision and determination, the valiance and courage, to fight manfully in his army and to be, as President George Albert Smith so graphically expressed it, “on the Lord’s side of the line.” In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.<br />
<br />
I know that as we are valiant in our testimony in jesus christ the lord will bless us. The church is true! I know the lord speaks throigh his chosen servants on the earth has he did in ancient isreal! May yall have an amazing week!!!!<br />
elder richardson<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Brighten your day.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
Hey everybody!!!!<br />
Wow so I typed this email all up and the email service went down and it deleted it all so yippee me in getting to retype it haha!!!! This week was good but it was a little slower.<br />
<br />
So Monday we went by and saw Dalton and taught him the importance of reading the scriptures.<br />
<br />
Tuesday we had district meeting. We saw brother alfaro, jose and brian.<br />
<br />
Wednesday we did service for a referral referred from the Davis family named grandpa bill. He is always over for dinner when we go over. He is really nice and has been to utah a lot with Davis and even been through a temple open house. We helped cleaned his garage. After we went and did fhe at sister Garza with brown eric. We also saw Arora a and her daughters. They want to wait until her husband can be home so we will have to do the baptism on a sunday so it will be a last minute thing because Arora doesn't know until Friday if her husband will be home or not.<br />
<br />
Thursday we went by and saw miss pat. She will be going in for surgery in 2 weeks. We talked about how God helps us in trials. It also rained a ,other on thursday.<br />
<br />
Friday and Saturday we did a ton of tracting.moot much success... it was really really hot!!!<br />
<br />
Sunday we had lunch at brother stanleys and we visited Arora for her daughter Kayla b-day. So my spiritual thought today comes from Bruce R McConkies talk Be valiant in the fight of faith here is the link if you want to listen to it. <br />
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1974/10/be-valiant-in-the-fight-of-faith?lang=eng<br />
<br />
From the pen of Paul, we take this challenge:<br />
<br />
“O man of God, … follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.<br />
<br />
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Tim. 6:11–12.)<br />
<br />
So wrote our fellow apostle to those who had accepted the Son of God as their Savior, who had taken upon themselves the yoke of Christ, who had covenanted in the waters of baptism to serve him and keep his commandments. And so say we to all those today who have in like manner taken upon themselves the name of Christ and enlisted in the cause of truth and righteousness: Be valiant. Fight a good fight. Stand true. Keep the commandments. Overcome the world.<br />
<br />
Speaking of himself and the great warfare with the world which he had won, Paul said:<br />
<br />
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:<br />
<br />
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:7–8.)<br />
<br />
As members of the Church, we are engaged in a mighty conflict. We are at war. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to fight against Lucifer and all that is lustful and carnal and evil in the world. We have sworn to fight alongside our friends and against our enemies, and we must not be confused in distinguishing friends from foes. As another of our ancient fellow apostles wrote: “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4.)<br />
<br />
The great war that rages on every side and which unfortunately is resulting in many casualties, some fatal, is no new thing. There was war even in heaven, when the forces of evil sought to destroy the agency of man, and when Lucifer sought to lead us away from the path of progression and advancement established by an all-wise Father.<br />
<br />
That war is continuing on earth, and the devil is still wroth with the Church and goes forth “to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17.)<br />
<br />
And it is now as it has always been. The Saints can only overcome him and his forces “by the blood of the Lamb, … by the word of their testimony,” and if they love “not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11.)<br />
<br />
Now there neither are nor can be any neutrals in this war. Every member of the Church is on one side or the other. The soldiers who fight in its battles will either, with Paul, come off victorious and win “a crown of righteousness,” or they shall, in Paul’s language, “be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” in that day when he comes to take “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes. 1:9, 8.)<br />
<br />
In this war all who do not stand forth courageously and valiantly are by that fact alone aiding the cause of the enemy. “They who are not for me are against me, saith our God.” (2 Ne. 10:16.)<br />
<br />
We are either for the Church or we are against it. We either take its part or we take the consequences. We cannot survive spiritually with one foot in the Church and the other in the world. We must make the choice. It is either the Church or the world. There is no middle ground. And the Lord loves a courageous man who fights openly and boldly in his army.<br />
<br />
To certain members of his ancient church, he said:<br />
<br />
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.<br />
<br />
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:15–16.) The summer patriot and the sunshine saint retreat when the battle wages fiercely around them. Theirs is not the conqueror’s crown. They are overcome by the world.<br />
<br />
Members of the Church who have testimonies and who live clean and upright lives, but who are not courageous and valiant, do not gain the celestial kingdom. Theirs is a terrestrial inheritance. Of them the revelation says, “These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.” (D&C 76:79.)<br />
<br />
As Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62.)<br />
<br />
What is the testimony of Jesus? And what must we do to be valiant therein?<br />
<br />
“Be not … ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “… but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:8.) And to the Beloved John came this divine message: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10.)<br />
<br />
The testimony of our Lord! The testimony of Jesus! What a glorious and wondrous concept! It opens the door to glory and honor with the Father and the Son forever! The testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ, to receive his gospel, and to live his law.<br />
<br />
Jesus is the Lord. He is God’s own Son who came into the world to ransom us men from the temporal and spiritual death brought upon us by the fall of Adam. Jesus has bought us with his blood. He is the resurrection and the life. He “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:10.) He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Advocate with the Father. “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5.)<br />
<br />
Salvation is in Christ. His is the only name given under heaven whereby this priceless gift may be won. Without him there would be no resurrection and all men would be forever lost. Without him there would be no eternal life, no return to the presence of a gracious Father, no celestial thrones for the saints.<br />
<br />
No tongue can tell, no mind can envision, no heart can conceive of all that comes to us because of him. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” (Rev 5:12.)<br />
<br />
Now there can be no perfect testimony of the divine Sonship of Christ and his saving goodness unless and until we receive the fulness of his everlasting gospel. A testimony of the gospel comes by revelation from the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Spirit speaks to the spirit within us, we then know with an absolute conviction of the verity of the revealed message.<br />
<br />
A testimony is to know by revelation that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith and his successors are the revealers of the knowledge of Christ and of salvation for our day; and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth, the one place where salvation may be found.<br />
<br />
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is a gift of the Spirit. It comes in full measure only to faithful members of the Church. It is reserved for those whose right it is to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It is the spiritual endowment which sets a man apart as a prophet in fulfillment of the prayer of Moses: “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29.)<br />
<br />
Now what does it mean to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus?<br />
<br />
It is to be courageous and bold; to use all our strength, energy, and ability in the warfare with the world; to fight the good fight of faith. “Be strong and of a good courage,” the Lord commanded Joshua, and then specified that this strength and courage consisted of meditating upon and observing to do all that is written in the law of the Lord. (See Josh. 1:6–9.) The great cornerstone of valiance in the cause of righteousness is obedience to the whole law of the whole gospel.<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him”; it is to deny ourselves “of all ungodliness,” and “love God” with all our “might, mind and strength.” (Moro. 10:32.)<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ and his gospel with unshakable conviction. It is to know of the verity and divinity of the Lord’s work on earth.<br />
<br />
But this is not all. It is more than believing and knowing. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. It is more than lip service; it is not simply confessing with the mouth the divine Sonship of the Savior. It is obedience and conformity and personal righteousness. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21.)<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” It is to “endure to the end.” (2 Ne. 31:20.) It is to live our religion, to practice what we preach, to keep the commandments. It is the manifestation of “pure religion” in the lives of men; it is visiting “the fatherless and widows in their affliction” and keeping ourselves “unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27.)<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to bridle our passions, control our appetites, and rise above carnal and evil things. It is to overcome the world as did he who is our prototype and who himself was the most valiant of all our Father’s children. It is to be morally clean, to pay our tithes and offerings, to honor the Sabbath day, to pray with full purpose of heart, to lay our all upon the altar if called upon to do so.<br />
<br />
To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord’s side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father.<br />
<br />
Our doctrine is clear; its application sometimes seems to be more difficult. Perhaps some personal introspection might be helpful. For instance:<br />
<br />
Am I valiant in the testimony of Jesus if my chief interest and concern in life is laying up in store the treasures of the earth, rather than the building up of the kingdom?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I have more of this world’s goods than my just needs and wants require and I do not draw from my surplus to support missionary work, build temples, and care for the needy?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if my approach to the Church and its doctrines is intellectual only, if I am more concerned with having a religious dialogue on this or that point than I am on gaining a personal spiritual experience?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I am deeply concerned about the Church’s stand on who can or who cannot receive the priesthood and think it is time for a new revelation on this doctrine?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I use a boat, live in a country home, or engage in some other recreational pursuit on weekends that takes me away from my spiritual responsibilities?<br />
<br />
Am I valiant if I engage in gambling, play cards, go to pornographic movies, shop on Sunday, wear immodest clothes, or do any of the things that are the accepted way of life among worldly people?<br />
<br />
If we are to gain salvation, we must put first in our lives the things of God’s kingdom. With us it must be the kingdom of God or nothing. We have come out of darkness; ours is the marvelous light of Christ. We must walk in the light.<br />
<br />
Now I don’t pretend to be able to read the future, but I have a very strong feeling that conditions in the world are not going to get better. They are going to get worse until the coming of the Son of Man, which is the end of the world, when the wicked will be destroyed.<br />
<br />
I think the world is going to get worse, and the faithful portion of the Church, at least, is going to get better. The day is coming, more than ever has been the case in the past, when we will be under the obligation of making a choice, of standing up for the Church, of adhering to its precepts and teachings and principles, of taking the counsel that comes from the apostles and prophets whom God has placed to teach the doctrine and bear witness to the world. The day is coming when this will be more necessary than has ever been the case in our day or at any time in our dispensation.<br />
<br />
Now this is the Lord’s work. It is God’s work. It is our Father’s business. His hand is in it. There is nothing in this world that compares in any way in importance with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation, and if we will walk and live and be and move and breathe and think the gospel and its cause, always and everlastingly, then we can have peace and joy and happiness in this life and we can go on to eternal glory in the life to come.<br />
<br />
We teach and we testify. We have here this day taught eternal principles of truth; and whenever we teach by the power of the Holy Spirit, it becomes our prerogative to bear witness and testimony that the doctrines we have proclaimed are true and that if men will abide by and conform to them, all the blessings that a gracious Father desires to confer upon them will be theirs.<br />
<br />
I bear witness of the truth of the doctrines that have been proclaimed and testify anew that Jesus is the Lord, that salvation is in him, that his is the only name under heaven whereby we may be saved in God’s kingdom.<br />
<br />
God grant us the wisdom and vision and determination, the valiance and courage, to fight manfully in his army and to be, as President George Albert Smith so graphically expressed it, “on the Lord’s side of the line.” In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.<br />
<br />
I know that as we are valiant in our testimony in jesus christ the lord will bless us. The church is true! I know the lord speaks throigh his chosen servants on the earth has he did in ancient isreal! May yall have an amazing week!!!!<br />
elder richardson<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Brighten your day.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-72376664060185792042016-06-06T16:03:00.000-07:002016-06-06T16:03:12.507-07:00The Morning BreaksThe Morning Breaks<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> May 2 at 11:48 AM<br />
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BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Morning Breaks
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> May 2 at 11:48 AM
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larichardson65@yahoo.com
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HEY EVERYBODY!!!!
OH MY GOODNESS!!! WHAT A WEEK!!!! Two things that I have learned this week. 1. Satan is real. 2. God is at all times providing ways to bring forth is purposes in bringing his ransom children home. So lets begin with the week!
This week we got to see Grandpa Bill twice. One time he took us to a really good Sea food place with fried crab, fried oyster, fried catfish, fried shrimp. It was so good.
We also had FHE with sister Garza and bro Eric. It was really good. We did a lot of tracting and one of the last houses in the neighborhood was friends with our branch mission leader and his wife. We also saw Brain, Jose, and Mario. It was really good.
WELL...... To the story. On Tuesday we visted Aurora and the girls and scheduled their interview on Saturday at 3. They were telling us how Aurora makes them read the BOM every morning and read James 1:5. they said that testing has become so much more easier because of James 1:5. Aurora is an amazing for helping them! We got a phone call saturday morning from Aurora that Alex would be home so we could do the Baptism. Saturday morning we had a service project 20 miles south of New Iberia in a small town called Baldwin in our area with our branch mission leader to pick up trash for the city of Baldwin. After we finished we had lunch and then it started raining. Mama Fran our branch leaders wife told us we should leave before it gets too bad. Driving home was crazy!!!! It was raining in every direction the wind was blowing really bad. IT was probably the worst rain I had ever been in and I was driving in it HAHA. We came to an area where it was a farm land and fields and lighting was striking everywhere. It was really cool! We got to New Iberia safely but town was flooded! We could not get home. We went up on the railroad tracks on Jefferson Terrace and when we got to the top the road was flooded. Cars had there emergency lights on that must have been flooded. So we took another way. We got to E Dale where our apartment is and it was flooded. We were able to pull up on an area to be safe from the floods. We decided to walk to our complex which was also flooded. The water was to our knees!!! We were able to find a place we could get to and park and wait until the waters reseeded. Well we finally got a text we were on lockdown so the District leader couldn't come down from Lafayette. Finally around 5 the waters begin to drain so we could go get our car. Finally we get the clear around 6 that we can do the interview. The girls get interview first. We were still unsure if Aurora was going to get baptized. When I finished the girls records I asked her and she said she was going to ask Alex. When she went and asked he said he wanted to be baptized also!!!!!! WE COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!! He was already qualified since he had been to church way more than three times and had been taught all of the lessons! Well we thought nothing could bring us down from there..... WE were wrong. It proved from then on to be the Refiners fire. We ran into a hurdle during Auroras interview. We understood why she was afraid to be baptized that made it so that President needed to interview her. He said he would come down on sunday so it could not be delayed. We finished all of the interviews at 9. Aurora came up to me and said Quiero usted a bautizar me porque usted mi hijo. That made me feel really good. So the next day came and it was raining hard again!!!! We made it to the church and planed the baptism and quickly as we could. We were unable to do programs. We went to go fill up the font and when we got to the font it was filled with sewage water coming from the drain. It was raining so much that water was coming up from the font. We said a prayer that the rain would stop or slow down so everyone could get to church and water would stop coming into the font. We plugged it and went to sacrament. Everyone was able to make it including President from Baton Rouge without any problems. During testimony meeting Alex went up and bore his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! He talked about the example of his daughters and the happiness the church has brought them. After President did his interview with Aurora and we went to go fix the font. Water stopped coming from the drain but the font was a mess. We started taking buckets to take the water out. IT WAS NASTY!!!! By this time I was getting really really stressed but I had faith that the Lord would bring about his purpose. The branch president came in and said that even if we were to clean it how would it drain after we filled it. So he had it changed to the Lafayette building. After Auroras interview we ended up having interviews. It was really good. President kept talking about the 5 baptisms. We also had a temple recommend interview because my recommend expires this month. So we ended up to the Baptism with the Davis family just before we left a member without a car asked for a ride so we went to go pick him up. We got there 5 minutes before it was suppose to start. We ran into the bathrooms to change and trying to find a jumpsuit for Horrocks. We hurried and wrote down the program for our branch mission leader. Sister Hansen ran right in front to take a picture of us. We were able to take a picture in white with them just before the ordinace but I still have to get it from them.
The baptismal service was awesome. I got to Baptize Aurora and little Aurora and confirm Kayla, Mishelle, and Alex. It was so amazing! I felt like it was my parents and sisters also. I am so grateful for the inspiration that assigned me to New Iberia to meet this wonderful family. I love the Lomas family so much! I could not explain the joy that came to my heart. Coming back from the baptism there was a break in the clouds with some sun coming through the words of the hymn The Morning Breaks came to my mind.
1. The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!
The dawning of a brighter day,
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.
2. The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine;
The glory bursting from afar,
The glory bursting from afar
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.
3. The Gentile fulness now comes in,
And Israel's blessings are at hand.
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.
4. Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,
And Gentile nations turn and live.
His mighty arm is making bare,
His mighty arm is making bare
His cov'nant people to receive.
5. --Angels from heav'n and truth from earth
Have met, and both have record borne;
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth
To bring her ransomed children home
While the storms of life may surround us and it seems that all hope is lost. The Lord always brings about his purposes. There must be oppostistion in all things. I wouldn't have learned a lot of stuff I did had the baptism gone smoothly. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the peace and happiness it brings to families. I love my mission so much. Each day I understand more and more why I was called to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission spanish speaking. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God. Thomas S. Monson is his successor today. The Book of mormon is true. May yall have an amazing week and may God keep yall safe!!!
Elder Richardson
SAM_1689 .JPG
Brighten your day.<br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
This message contains blocked images.Show Images Change this setting<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
OH MY GOODNESS!!! WHAT A WEEK!!!! Two things that I have learned this week. 1. Satan is real. 2. God is at all times providing ways to bring forth is purposes in bringing his ransom children home. So lets begin with the week!<br />
<br />
This week we got to see Grandpa Bill twice. One time he took us to a really good Sea food place with fried crab, fried oyster, fried catfish, fried shrimp. It was so good.<br />
<br />
We also had FHE with sister Garza and bro Eric. It was really good. We did a lot of tracting and one of the last houses in the neighborhood was friends with our branch mission leader and his wife. We also saw Brain, Jose, and Mario. It was really good.<br />
<br />
WELL...... To the story. On Tuesday we visted Aurora and the girls and scheduled their interview on Saturday at 3. They were telling us how Aurora makes them read the BOM every morning and read James 1:5. they said that testing has become so much more easier because of James 1:5. Aurora is an amazing for helping them! We got a phone call saturday morning from Aurora that Alex would be home so we could do the Baptism. Saturday morning we had a service project 20 miles south of New Iberia in a small town called Baldwin in our area with our branch mission leader to pick up trash for the city of Baldwin. After we finished we had lunch and then it started raining. Mama Fran our branch leaders wife told us we should leave before it gets too bad. Driving home was crazy!!!! It was raining in every direction the wind was blowing really bad. IT was probably the worst rain I had ever been in and I was driving in it HAHA. We came to an area where it was a farm land and fields and lighting was striking everywhere. It was really cool! We got to New Iberia safely but town was flooded! We could not get home. We went up on the railroad tracks on Jefferson Terrace and when we got to the top the road was flooded. Cars had there emergency lights on that must have been flooded. So we took another way. We got to E Dale where our apartment is and it was flooded. We were able to pull up on an area to be safe from the floods. We decided to walk to our complex which was also flooded. The water was to our knees!!! We were able to find a place we could get to and park and wait until the waters reseeded. Well we finally got a text we were on lockdown so the District leader couldn't come down from Lafayette. Finally around 5 the waters begin to drain so we could go get our car. Finally we get the clear around 6 that we can do the interview. The girls get interview first. We were still unsure if Aurora was going to get baptized. When I finished the girls records I asked her and she said she was going to ask Alex. When she went and asked he said he wanted to be baptized also!!!!!! WE COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!! He was already qualified since he had been to church way more than three times and had been taught all of the lessons! Well we thought nothing could bring us down from there..... WE were wrong. It proved from then on to be the Refiners fire. We ran into a hurdle during Auroras interview. We understood why she was afraid to be baptized that made it so that President needed to interview her. He said he would come down on sunday so it could not be delayed. We finished all of the interviews at 9. Aurora came up to me and said Quiero usted a bautizar me porque usted mi hijo. That made me feel really good. So the next day came and it was raining hard again!!!! We made it to the church and planed the baptism and quickly as we could. We were unable to do programs. We went to go fill up the font and when we got to the font it was filled with sewage water coming from the drain. It was raining so much that water was coming up from the font. We said a prayer that the rain would stop or slow down so everyone could get to church and water would stop coming into the font. We plugged it and went to sacrament. Everyone was able to make it including President from Baton Rouge without any problems. During testimony meeting Alex went up and bore his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! He talked about the example of his daughters and the happiness the church has brought them. After President did his interview with Aurora and we went to go fix the font. Water stopped coming from the drain but the font was a mess. We started taking buckets to take the water out. IT WAS NASTY!!!! By this time I was getting really really stressed but I had faith that the Lord would bring about his purpose. The branch president came in and said that even if we were to clean it how would it drain after we filled it. So he had it changed to the Lafayette building. After Auroras interview we ended up having interviews. It was really good. President kept talking about the 5 baptisms. We also had a temple recommend interview because my recommend expires this month. So we ended up to the Baptism with the Davis family just before we left a member without a car asked for a ride so we went to go pick him up. We got there 5 minutes before it was suppose to start. We ran into the bathrooms to change and trying to find a jumpsuit for Horrocks. We hurried and wrote down the program for our branch mission leader. Sister Hansen ran right in front to take a picture of us. We were able to take a picture in white with them just before the ordinace but I still have to get it from them.<br />
<br />
The baptismal service was awesome. I got to Baptize Aurora and little Aurora and confirm Kayla, Mishelle, and Alex. It was so amazing! I felt like it was my parents and sisters also. I am so grateful for the inspiration that assigned me to New Iberia to meet this wonderful family. I love the Lomas family so much! I could not explain the joy that came to my heart. Coming back from the baptism there was a break in the clouds with some sun coming through the words of the hymn The Morning Breaks came to my mind.<br />
1. The morning breaks, the shadows flee;<br />
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!<br />
The dawning of a brighter day,<br />
The dawning of a brighter day<br />
Majestic rises on the world.<br />
2. The clouds of error disappear<br />
Before the rays of truth divine;<br />
The glory bursting from afar,<br />
The glory bursting from afar<br />
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.<br />
3. The Gentile fulness now comes in,<br />
And Israel's blessings are at hand.<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,<br />
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.<br />
4. Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,<br />
And Gentile nations turn and live.<br />
His mighty arm is making bare,<br />
His mighty arm is making bare<br />
His cov'nant people to receive.<br />
5. --Angels from heav'n and truth from earth<br />
Have met, and both have record borne;<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,<br />
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth<br />
To bring her ransomed children home<br />
<br />
<br />
While the storms of life may surround us and it seems that all hope is lost. The Lord always brings about his purposes. There must be oppostistion in all things. I wouldn't have learned a lot of stuff I did had the baptism gone smoothly. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the peace and happiness it brings to families. I love my mission so much. Each day I understand more and more why I was called to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission spanish speaking. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God. Thomas S. Monson is his successor today. The Book of mormon is true. May yall have an amazing week and may God keep yall safe!!! <br />
<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
<br />
SAM_1689 .JPG<br />
Brighten your day.LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-44498962978805623072016-06-06T15:54:00.001-07:002016-06-06T16:08:25.939-07:00Pics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-4809265666237395482016-06-06T15:44:00.000-07:002016-06-06T15:46:08.710-07:00Secret PrayerSecret Prayer<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Apr 18 at 1:13 PM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
So this week was really good. I ended up getting a cold but we were still able to work a lot. We had zone conference in Baton Rouge so that took all day. We were able to see a bunch of people and do some tracting.<br />
<br />
We were able to do some service by cleaning the rain gutters of a friend of a member. That was fun. We also visted bro Alfaro. We also saw Ruth, we planned to teach her the plan of salvation and when we went by she was sad because she just heard a friend had passed away. The plan of salvation was perfect ot teach at that time.<br />
<br />
We also taught Aurora and her daughters the commandments and the plan of salvation. They came to church. We have their baptism planned for the next Saturday on the 30th. Aurora wants the girls to be baptized but she is starting to back out... Hopefully we can get her on board with the girls. We were able to play Volleyball with them and the sisters.<br />
<br />
Micheal also came to church which was awesome. We saw a bunch of people and taught around 13 lessons this week.<br />
<br />
My spiritual thought today comes from Bruce R. McConkie again. It comes from his first talk as an Apostle entitled I know my Redeemer Lives.<br />
<br />
I am grateful beyond any measure of expression, beyond any utterance in my power, for the blessings the Lord has so abundantly showered upon me, upon my family, and upon the faithful Saints in all the world. I now seek, most sincerely and devoutly, to be guided by the power of the Holy Ghost in bearing testimony of the truth and divinity of this glorious work in which we are all engaged. I pray also that the spirit of light and truth and edification so far present in this meeting may continue to rest in your hearts, so that you, being edified, will know of yourselves that those things about which I shall testify are true.<br />
<br />
As members of the church and kingdom of God on earth, we enjoy the gifts of the Spirit—those wonders and glories and miracles that a gracious and benevolent God always has bestowed upon his faithful saints. The first of these gifts listed in our modern revelation on spiritual gifts is the gift of testimony, the gift of revelation, the gift of knowing of the truth and divinity of the work. This gift is elsewhere described as the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. This is my gift. I know this work is true.<br />
<br />
I have a perfect knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God through whose instrumentality the fullness of the everlasting gospel has been restored again in our day. And I know that this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth, and that as now constituted, with President Harold B. Lee at its head, it has the approval and approbation of the Lord, is in the line of its duty, and is preparing a people for the second coming of the Son of Man.<br />
<br />
And I know further that the Lord pours out upon his people today the same glorious and wondrous gifts enjoyed by the ancient saints. To us in this day he gives the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, even as he did to them of old. “I will tell you” the glories and wonders of the everlasting gospel, he says; “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation.” (D&C 8:2–3.)<br />
<br />
I know there is revelation in the Church because I have received revelation. I know God speaks in this day because he has spoken to me. I rejoice in the privilege and opportunity to serve as a witness of his name, to teach the truths of salvation which he has revealed, and then to testify that these doctrines are true.<br />
<br />
This course of teaching sound doctrine and of testifying of the truth is the Lord’s system. Religion comes from God. There is no other source. That which is true, that which brings joy and peace into the hearts of men in this world and prepares them for eternal glory in the world to come—all this originates with the Lord. Man can no more create saving religion than he can resurrect himself.<br />
<br />
God has given us the truths of salvation in this day on the same basis he has revealed them in every dispensation of the past. His system is now and always has been to reveal to apostles and prophets and righteous men the doctrines and truths of salvation and to command them to teach those truths and to bear witness of their verity to the world. They are to bear testimony that they know their teachings come from the Lord. His representatives and servants are always witnesses of the truth. I rejoice in the privilege of standing as a witness of the truth in this day.<br />
<br />
I am grateful that I was privileged to raise my hand to the square and covenant in my mind and in my soul this day, as the Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon this great congregation, that I would sustain and uphold and take the counsel of these great men whom God has called to preside over his kingdom, the First Presidency of the Church—President Harold B. Lee, a seer, a man filled with the spirit of revelation and of wisdom who is on intimate terms with that Lord whose we are; President N. Eldon Tanner, the embodiment of integrity and the basic Christian virtues, who loves the Lord and keeps his commandments; President Marion G. Romney, a spiritual giant, a preacher of righteousness, who knows the Lord and teaches his doctrine. President Romney and I are members of the same family. After I had been told of my call, he said to me, “I think Granddad Redd [Lemuel Hardison Redd] will be glad to receive us.” I said, “I am going to live so I will be worthy to go where he is.” He said, “So am I.”<br />
<br />
With reference to these brethren who hold the keys of the kingdom of God at this hour, the voice of the Lord to his people is: “These are they whom I have chosen as the First Presidency of my Church. Follow them.” And also, “… on them have I laid the burden of all the churches, … and whosoever receiveth me, receiveth those, the First Presidency, whom I have sent. …” (D&C 112:18–20.)<br />
<br />
I desire with all my heart to sustain and to uphold the Presidency of the Church, to walk in the light of the revelation and truth that comes from their lips, as they give the mind and will of the Lord, both to his people and to the honest truth seekers among all the nations of the earth. I know that the work is true.<br />
<br />
I think I speak for each one of you, I know I do for myself and my family, when I say that in this solemn assembly—with the outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord that has been present as we have sustained the authorities of the Church and as we have listened to President Lee as he spoke by the power of the Spirit—I think all of us desire to rededicate our lives to the principles of truth and righteousness for which these noble leaders, the Presidents of the Church named by President Lee, have lived and labored and died.<br />
<br />
Let this then be our covenant—whatever the past has been—let this then be our covenant, that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless. Let this be our covenant, that we will keep the commandments of God and be living witnesses of the truth and divinity of this glorious work, which is destined to sweep the earth as with a flood and which shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.<br />
<br />
O God, grant that I and my family and all the faithful members of the house of Israel may walk in truth and light, and having enjoyed the fellowship and kinship and association that is found nowhere else on earth outside the Church, let us enjoy that same spirit, that same fellowship in its eternal fullness, in the mansions and realms which are ahead.<br />
<br />
All of this I say humbly and gratefully, in the spirit of testimony and of thanksgiving, and in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<br />
<br />
Thank you for all that yall do!!!! May the lord bless yall. This Church is True. Read the Book of Mormon. It is true. It has the power to change your life and bring you closer to the Savior. THANKS YALL FOR ALL YOU DO!!! HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
Elder RichardsonLouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-52618233938250262742016-06-06T15:41:00.005-07:002016-06-06T15:41:41.139-07:00The Day Dawn is BreakingThe Day Dawn is Breaking<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Apr 11 at 11:26 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY ALL YALL!!!!<br />
This past week was very very very busy! We had the opportunity to see a lot of people. We were able to see Miss. Pat. So she doesnt have to get her leg amputated but they found that she has a huge infection that she has to get removed. That night she invited us back for some crawfish. It was really good!<br />
<br />
We also have a new investigator named Unrecka. Her house burnt down a couple of weeks ago and she has been wanting to get closer to God.<br />
<br />
Our investigator Ruth is really interested in the gospel/ We went by and we shared the Book of mormon with her. She really was interested in it. She said that she felt the spirit really strong that she invited us to a family religious revival her sister was hosting on Saturday. So we went and they approached us to ask us to speak. I ended up speaking in behalf of the church and missionaries. I shared the family proclamation to the world and the importance of teaching the gospel and correct principles in the home. There were 90 people all of which were African American. I was the only white speaker haha!!! After we handed out copies of the family proclamation to the world with a restoration pamphlet. ALL WERE GONE!!! We had a couple of people asking us to come by next week. It was wierd because while I was speaking people were saying amen the whole time I was speaking. HAHA. I was even quoted by a later speaker HAHA!!! God works in mysterious ways for your finding.<br />
<br />
On Sunday Micheal and Brother Desermoux showed up to church. We had a lesson with Micheal after about the Book of Mormon and we set a baptism date for the 30t. He was also able to attend a child baptism after church.<br />
<br />
We also were able to see Brian and teach him the plan of salvation. We also visited Jose. He is now reading the part of the Book of Mormon when Christ comes which is really exciting. We also saw Aurora and her daughters. They are set for baptism on the 23rd. We are going to go though with this date because the father keeps holding them back because he works.<br />
<br />
My spiritual thought today comes again from Bruce R McConkie "Come Know the Lord Jesus". I am trying to listen to all of his talks and they are so good that I want to share them. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1977/04/come-know-the-lord-jesus?lang=eng<br />
<br />
People everywhere today are hearing voices, strange voices enticing them to follow bye and forbidden paths which lead to destruction. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pleading tones of that chorus of discordant voices which speak of the Savior of the world himself.<br />
<br />
There are voices crying, “Lo, here is Christ” or “Lo there”—meaning that various preachers are saying: “Believe in Christ, and be saved according to this system” or “according to that system.”<br />
<br />
A voice from the Koran acclaims Jesus as a prophet like Abraham and Moses, but sweeps aside the divine Sonship with the declaration that Allah has no need for a Son to redeem men; rather, he has but to speak and a thing is done.<br />
<br />
A voice from one sect, looking back to the cross, says: “We were saved 2,000 years ago, and there is nothing we can do about it one way or the other now.”<br />
<br />
Another voice proclaims: “Baptism is of no moment; simply believe;confess the Lord with your lips; no more is needed; Christ did it all.”<br />
<br />
Another sect sets aside the need for good works with the assertion that there will be a final harmony of all souls with God—all will be saved.<br />
<br />
Another sings out about confession, and penance, and purgatory, and the ritualistic rites of a priestly hierarchy. Another says our Lord was a great moral teacher, nothing more. Others believe the virgin birth was only a pious fiction fabricated by simple disciples who also made up the accounts of the miracles.<br />
<br />
And so it goes; all sects, parties, and denominations acclaim a Christ molded to fit their diverse theological idiosyncrasies. And as we know, this very babble of voices crying out that salvation comes through Christ,according to this or that conflicting system, is itself one of the signs of the times.<br />
<br />
Jesus foretold that in our day there would be false Christs and false prophets, meaning that false religions bearing his name would arise, and that false doctrines and false teachers would be everywhere.<br />
<br />
Amid it all may we raise the one voice which echoes the mind and will and voice of the Lord. Our voice is one which testifies of a true and living Christ; it is one which says that the Lord Jesus has revealed himself and his gospel anew in modern times; it is a voice which invites all men to come to Him who died on Calvary, and to live his laws as he has given them to modern prophets.<br />
<br />
May I now, as one who has come to a knowledge of the truth about our Savior, proclaim his divine Sonship and testify of that salvation which comes in and through his holy name and in no other way, and do it by the power of the Holy Ghost.<br />
<br />
I shall speak of the Gods of heaven and of our relationship to them and of what they expect of us. And may I say, at the outset, that all those whose hearts are open, and whose minds are enlightened by the power of the Holy Spirit, shall know of the truth of the doctrines I shall teach and the testimony I shall bear.<br />
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We worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost.<br />
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The Father’s name is Elohim;<br />
Jehovah is his Son.<br />
Above all Gods they stand supreme,<br />
And rule the universe.<br />
Jehovah is the Holy One,<br />
By whom redemption comes;<br />
His gospel is the word of life;<br />
He is our living Lord.<br />
The Holy Spirit witness bears;<br />
Our soul the message hears—<br />
That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,<br />
Are man’s Eternal Gods.<br />
Be it known, then, that there is a God in heaven who is infinite and eternal. He has all power, all might, and all dominion. There is no power he does not possess and no truth he does not know. Every good thing dwells in him independently in its eternal fulness. He is the Creator,Upholder, and Preserver of all things. His name is Elohim, and he is our Father in heaven, the literal Father of the spirits of all men. He has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s, and is in fact a resurrected and glorified Person. The name of the kind of life he lives is eternal life; and eternal life, by definition and in its nature, consists of life in an eternal family unit and of the possession of the fulness of the glory and power of the Father.<br />
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The Lord Jesus, whose witnesses we are, is the Firstborn of the Father, the Firstborn of every creature. He was the Beloved and Chosen One from the beginning.<br />
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When our Eternal Father ordained and established the plan of salvation;when the great Elohim set up the system which would enable us, his spirit children, to advance and progress and become like him; when the Father of us all offered eternal life to his children—he asked for volunteers to put his plan into operation.<br />
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After all the hosts of heaven had been taught the gospel of God; after they knew of the perils and trials of a future mortality; after the need for a redeemer had been presented in the courts of glory—the Father propounded these questions and sent them forth through all the seraphic hosts of heaven:<br />
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“Whom shall I send to be my Son? Who will put the terms and conditions of my plan into effect? Who will work out the infinite and eternal atonement, whereby all men shall be raised in immortality, with those who believe and obey being raised also unto eternal life?”<br />
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Then it was that his Beloved and Firstborn Son responded:<br />
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“Here am I, send me; I will be thy Son; I will sponsor thy plan, Father; I will take upon me the sins of all men on conditions of repentance; and,Father, the honor and the glory be thine forever.”<br />
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Then it was that this Favored One—this One, who, under the Father, had been the Creator of worlds without number—was chosen and foreordained and became the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.<br />
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Then it was that the decree went forth that the great Jehovah should be born and die and rise again from the grave in glorious immortality, thus becoming in the full and literal sense like unto the Father.<br />
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Then it was that the Firstborn in the spirit was chosen to become the Only Begotten in the flesh.<br />
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Then it was that the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy because immortality and eternal life would now be a reality.<br />
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In due course came Adam and Eve; the fall of man, with its temporal and spiritual death; and the consequent promise of a Redeemer, a Savior, a Deliverer. The gospel of the Lord Jehovah was revealed so that men might worship the Father in his name and enjoy the words of eternal life on this earth and be inheritors of eternal life on the celestial earth that is to be.<br />
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Adam and Eve made all things known to their seed so they might believe in Christ, repent of their sins, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and work the works of righteousness.<br />
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Christ and his laws were revealed to all the holy prophets. As Peter said,“To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” (Acts 10:43.)<br />
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He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the Holy One, the Lord Omnipotent. He was the promised Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer, the Son of David; and at the appointed time he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem of Judea, according to the promises.<br />
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From Mary, his mother, a mortal woman, he inherited the power of mortality, so that he was subject to all the temptations and ills of the flesh, including death itself. From God, his Father, an Immortal Man, he inherited the power of immortality, so that he had power to live forever,or having voluntarily laid down his life, to take it up again in immortal glory.<br />
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He came into the world to ransom men from the temporal and spiritual death brought upon them by the fall of Adam. He came to satisfy the demands of divine justice and to bring mercy to the penitent. He came as a Mediator, as an Intercessor, to plead the cause of all those who believe in him.<br />
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He came to bring immortality to all men as a free gift. He came to make eternal life available on conditions of obedience to the laws and ordinances of his gospel. He came to bring hope, to bring joy, to bring peace, to bring salvation; and his is the only name given under heaven whereby salvation comes.<br />
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Our Lord—the Lord Jehovah, the Lord Jesus—is our hope and our salvation. He it is that hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He has redeemed us from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment.<br />
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After his resurrection he ascended up on high to sit on the right hand of the Father. He has appeared in our day, with his Father, who said: “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (JS—H 1:17.)<br />
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He has appeared many other times to converse with his earthly friends;and in the not distant future he will come again, with ten thousand of his angels, in all the glory of his Father’s kingdom, to usher in his personal reign of righteousness and peace. When he comes he will slay the wicked and judge the world; and every corruptible thing will be destroyed by the glory of his presence.<br />
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He is our Friend, our Lawgiver, our King, and our Lord. We seek his face and desire to dwell in his presence. We are his people, the sheep of his fold.<br />
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Our desire is “to be reconciled to God” through his blood, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” As one of our fellow laborers of old said: “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ,” so that all men “may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Ne. 25:23, 26.)<br />
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And so now, in keeping with our established practice and pursuant to the divine obligation laid upon us, I bear personal testimony of the divine Sonship of him who has saved us by his blood. He is truly God’s Almighty Son in whom we shall rejoice both now and forever.<br />
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In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
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Thanks yall for your support and all that yall do!!! The Church is true!!! The Book of mormon is true! This is the Lord's kingdom established on the Earth just as Jesus Christ established it!!! HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK EVERYBODY!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-92132427655038161502016-06-06T15:38:00.003-07:002016-06-06T15:38:53.944-07:00Beautiful Zion, Built AboveBeautiful Zion, Built Above<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Apr 5 at 11:24 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
So me and my companion both got word that we are both staying in New Iberia this next transfer.<br />
So this week was a good week. It was really busy. We were able to go see Jose on Monday. We were able to read the Book of Mormon with him. We also saw Miss. Pat. She is having a lot of health struggles right now. She may have to get her leg amputated. She went and saw the doctor on Thursday at Baton Rouge so we have not found out what happened there, hopefully all went well. We are going to see her tonight. We also were able to see Brian and teach him the plan of salvation. We also went to Aurora and her daughters. We went on Thursday to do family home evening with them. We went by on Sunday also to teach them the importance of prophets and invited them to watch general conference.<br />
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We also went to contact bible referals. We got a new investigator from it named Ruth. She was really nice. We will be giving her a book of mormon tomorrow.<br />
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We also were able to see Micheal. He attended the priesthood session of conference.<br />
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It was a really good week. It was really busy. We did some tracting early in the week but near the end of the week it became really busy.<br />
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I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to listen to our prophets and apostles<br />
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One of my favorite talks is by Bruce R. McConkie called Obedience, Consecration, and Sacrifice. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1975/04/obedience-consecration-and-sacrifice?lang=eng<br />
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I have sought and do now seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that I may speak plainly and persuasively about two of the crowning doctrines of the gospel.<br />
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We are the Lord’s people, his saints, those to whom he has given much and from whom he expects much in return. We know the terms and conditions of the plan of salvation—how Christ died for our sins and what we must do to reap the full blessings of his atoning sacrifice.<br />
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We have covenanted in the waters of baptism to love and serve him,to keep his commandments, and to put first in our lives the things of his kingdom. In return he has promised us eternal life in his Father’s kingdom. We are thus in a position to receive and obey some of the higher laws which prepare us for that eternal life which we so sincerely seek.<br />
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Accordingly, I shall now set forth some of the principles of sacrifice and consecration to which the true saints must conform if they are ever to go where God and Christ are and have an inheritance with the faithful saints of ages past.<br />
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It is written: “He who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.” (D&C 88:22.) The law of sacrifice is a celestial law; so also is the law of consecration. Thus to gain that celestial reward which we so devoutly desire, we must be able to live these two laws.<br />
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Sacrifice and consecration are inseparably intertwined. The law of consecration is that we consecrate our time, our talents, and our money and property to the cause of the Church: such are to be available to the extent they are needed to further the Lord’s interests on earth.<br />
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The law of sacrifice is that we are willing to sacrifice all that we have for the truth’s sake—our character and reputation; our honor and applause; our good name among men; our houses, lands, and families: all things, even our very lives if need be.<br />
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Joseph Smith said, “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary [to lead] unto life and salvation.” (Lectures on Faith, p. 58.)<br />
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We are not always called upon to live the whole law of consecrationand give all of our time, talents, and means to the building up of the Lord’s earthly kingdom. Few of us are called upon to sacrifice much of what we possess, and at the moment there is only an occasional martyr in the cause of revealed religion.<br />
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But what the scriptural account means is that to gain celestial salvation we must be able to live these laws to the full if we are called upon to do so. Implicit in this is the reality that we must in fact live them to the extent we are called upon so to do.<br />
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How, for instance, can we establish our ability to live the full law of consecration if we do not in fact pay an honest tithing? Or how can we prove our willingness to sacrifice all things, if need be, if we do not make the small sacrifices of time and toil, or of money and means, that we are now asked to make?<br />
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As a young man, serving at the direction of my bishop, I called upon a rich man and invited him to contribute a thousand dollars to a building fund. He declined. But he did say he wanted to help, and if we would have a ward dinner and charge $5 per plate, he would take two tickets. About ten days later this man died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and I have wondered ever since about the fate of his eternal soul.<br />
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Wasn’t there someone once who said, “Beware of covetousness: fora man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Didn’t this same person then speak this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:<br />
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“And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?<br />
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“And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.<br />
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“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.<br />
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“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”<br />
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And then did He not conclude the matter by saying, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke12:15–21.)<br />
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When the prophet Gad commanded David to build an altar and offer sacrifice on property owned by a certain man, that man offered to provide the land, the oxen, and all things for the sacrifice, without cost. But David said, “Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price:neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.” (2 Sam. 24:24.)<br />
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When it costs us but little to give, the treasure laid up in heaven is a small one. The widow’s mite, given in sacrifice, weighs more heavily in the eternal scales than the bulging granaries of the rich man.<br />
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There came to Jesus, on a certain occasion, a rich young man who asked: “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”<br />
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Our Lord’s answer was the obvious one, the one given by all the prophets of all the ages. It was: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”<br />
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The next question was: “Which commandments?”<br />
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Jesus listed them: “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”<br />
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Then came this response and query—for the young man was a good man, a faithful man, one who sought righteousness: “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”<br />
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We might well ask, “Isn’t it enough to keep the commandments?What more is expected of us than to be true and faithful to every trust? Is there more than the law of obedience?”<br />
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In the case of our rich young friend there was more. He was expected to live the law of consecration, to sacrifice his earthly possessions, for the answer of Jesus was: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”<br />
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As you know, the young man went away sorrowful, “for he had greatpossessions.” (Matt. 19:16–22.) And we are left to wonder what intimacies he might have shared with the Son of God, what fellowship he might have enjoyed with the apostles, what revelations and visions he might have received, if he had been able to live the law of a celestial kingdom. As it is he remains nameless; as it might have been, his name could have been had in honorable remembrance among the saints forever.<br />
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Now I think it is perfectly clear that the Lord expects far more of us than we sometimes render in response. We are not as other men.We are the saints of God and have the revelations of heaven. Where much is given much is expected. We are to put first in our lives the things of his kingdom.<br />
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We are commanded to live in harmony with the Lord’s laws, to keep all his commandments, to sacrifice all things if need be for his name’s sake, to conform to the terms and conditions of the law of consecration.<br />
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We have made covenants so to do—solemn, sacred, holy covenants,pledging ourselves before gods and angels.<br />
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We are under covenant to live the law of obedience.<br />
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We are under covenant to live the law of sacrifice.<br />
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We are under covenant to live the law of consecration.<br />
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With this in mind, hear this word from the Lord: “If you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you.” (D&C 78:7.)<br />
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It is our privilege to consecrate our time, talents, and means to buildup his kingdom. We are called upon to sacrifice, in one degree or another, for the furtherance of his work. Obedience is essential to salvation; so, also, is service; and so, also, are consecration and sacrifice.<br />
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It is our privilege to raise the warning voice to our neighbors and to go on missions and offer the truths of salvation to our Father’s other children everywhere. We can respond to calls to serve as bishops, as Relief Society presidents, as home teachers, and in any of hundreds of positions of responsibility in our various church organizations. We can labor on welfare projects, engage in genealogical research,perform vicarious ordinances in the temples.<br />
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We can pay an honest tithing and contribute to our fast offering,welfare, budget, building, and missionary funds. We can bequeath portions of our assets and devise portions of our properties to the Church when we pass on to other spheres.<br />
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We can consecrate a portion of our time to systematic study, to becoming gospel scholars, to treasuring up the revealed truths which guide us in paths of truth and righteousness.<br />
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And the fact that faithful members of the Church do all these things is one of the great evidences of the divinity of the work. Where else do the generality of the members of any church pay a full tithing?Where is there a people whose congregations have one and two and three percent of their number out in volunteer, self-supporting missionary work at all times? Where does any people as a whole build temples or operate welfare projects as we do? And where is there so much unpaid teaching and church administration?<br />
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In the true church we neither preach for hire nor divine for money.We follow the pattern of Paul and make the gospel of Christ without charge, lest we abuse or misuse the power the Lord has given us.Freely we have received and freely we give, for salvation is free. All who thirst are invited to come and drink of the waters of life, to buy corn and wine without money and without price.<br />
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All our service in God’s kingdom is predicated on his eternal law which states: “The laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion, for if they labor for money they shall perish.” (2 Ne. 26:31.)<br />
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We know full well that the laborer is worthy of his hire, and that those who devote all their time to the building up of the kingdom must be provided with food, clothing, shelter, and the necessaries of life. We must employ teachers in our schools, architects to design our temples, contractors to build our synagogues, and managers to run our businesses. But those so employed, along with the whole membership of the Church, participate also on a freewill and voluntary basis in otherwise furthering the Lord’s work. Bank presidents work on welfare projects. Architects leave their drafting boards to go on missions. Contractors lay down their tools to serve as home teachers or bishops. Lawyers put aside Corpus Juris and the Civil Code to act as guides on Temple Square. Teachers leave the classroom to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.Musicians who make their livelihood from their artistry willingly direct church choirs and perform at church gatherings. Artists who paint for a living are pleased to volunteer their services freely.<br />
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But the work of the kingdom must go forward, and the members of the Church are and shall be called upon to bear off its burdens. It is the Lord’s work and not man’s. He is the one who commands us to preach the gospel in all the world, whatever the cost. It is his voice that decrees the building of temples, whatever the cost. He is the one who tells us to care for the poor among us, whatever the cost,lest their cries come up to his throne as a testimony against those who should have fed the hungry and clothed the naked but who did not.<br />
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And may I say also—both by way of doctrine and of testimony—that it is his voice which invites us to consecrate of our time, our talents,and our means to carry on his work. It is his voice that calls for service and sacrifice. This is his work. He is at the helm guiding and directing the destiny of his kingdom.<br />
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And every member of his church has this promise: That if he remains true and faithful—obeying, serving, consecrating, sacrificing, as required by the gospel—he shall be repaid in eternity a thousandfold and shall have eternal life. What more can we ask?<br />
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In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<br />
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These laws can be very hard to live, but we must remember that God sacrificed his only begotten son. We must remember the goodness the gospel has given us. May yall have an amazing week!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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Brighten your day.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-23734204044000327892016-06-06T15:32:00.000-07:002016-06-06T15:32:14.966-07:00Come listen to a Prophets Voice March 28thHEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
So this week was a good week. We ended up doing a lot of finding for the easter season. Tuesday we helped do some service.... Wednesday we saw a less active family. Thursday we were able to go by and see Jose. We read with him the Book of Mormon. We also went by and saw Sister Fresh. We also visited with the Davis family and they invited a friend of theirs over. Friday we had a meeting almost all day in Baton Rouge. Saturday we saw an investigator named Brian. We did some park contacting with chalk and wrote easter scriptures with the church's #Hallelujah initiative. We had a lot of people check it out. After we did more tracting, I think everybody was at Mass because no one was home. A lot of our investigators were not home for Easter.<br />
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Sunday I spoke in Sacrament. That was fun. After we went by and saw Brother Stanely for lunch. We tracted after that and then we saw Aurora and her daughters after. We went to a family in the branch after and had dinner with them.<br />
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I am so excited for this weekend for Conference. I am so excited to listen to our prophets and apostles this weekend. One of my favorite talks is by Russell M. Nielson titled Sustaining the Prophet. I invite yall to read it. I know that President Monson is the lords prophet on the earth again. I hope yall will watch general conference!!!<br />
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President Eyring, we thank you for your instructive and inspiring message. My dear brothers and sisters, we thank you for your faith and devotion. Yesterday, we were each invited to sustain Thomas S. Monson as the prophet of the Lord and President of the Lord’s Church. And often we sing, “We thank thee, O God, for a prophet.”Do you and I really understand what that means? Imagine the privilege the Lord has given us of sustaining His prophet, whose counsel will be untainted, unvarnished, unmotivated by any personal aspiration, and utterly true!<br />
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How do we really sustain a prophet? Long before he became President of the Church, President Joseph F. Smith explained, “It is an important duty resting upon the Saints who … sustain the authorities of the Church, to do so not only by the lifting of the hand,the mere form, but in deed and in truth.”2<br />
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Well do I remember my most unique “deed” to sustain a prophet. As a medical doctor and cardiac surgeon, I had the responsibility of performing open-heart surgery on President Spencer W. Kimball in 1972, when he was Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He needed a very complex operation. But I had no experience doing such a procedure on a 77-year-old patient in heart failure. I did not recommend the operation and so informed President Kimball and the First Presidency. But, in faith, President Kimball chose to have the operation, only because it was advised by the First Presidency. That shows how he sustained his leaders! And his decision made me tremble!<br />
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Thanks to the Lord, the operation was a success. When President Kimball’s heart resumed beating, it did so with great power! At that very moment, I had a clear witness of the Spirit that this man would one day become President of the Church!3<br />
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You know the outcome. Only 20 months later, President Kimball became President of the Church. And he provided bold and courageous leadership for many years.<br />
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Since then we have sustained Presidents Ezra Taft Benson,Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley, and now Thomas S. Monson as Presidents of the Church—prophets in every sense of the word!<br />
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My dear brothers and sisters, if the Restoration did anything, it shattered the age-old myth that God had stopped talking to His children. Nothing could be further from the truth. A prophet has stood at the head of God’s Church in all dispensations, from Adam to the present day.4 Prophets testify of Jesus Christ—of His divinity and of His earthly mission and ministry.5 We honor the Prophet Joseph Smith as the prophet of this last dispensation. And we honor each man who has succeeded him as President of the Church.<br />
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When we sustain prophets and other leaders,6 we invoke the law of common consent, for the Lord said, “It shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church.”7<br />
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This gives us, as members of the Lord’s Church, confidence and faith as we strive to keep the scriptural injunction to heed the Lord’s voice as it comes through the voice of His servants the prophets. All leaders in the Lord’s Church are called by proper authority. No prophet or any other leader in this Church, for that matter, has ever called himself or herself. No prophet has ever been elected. The Lord made that clear when He said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you.”10 You and I do not “vote” on Church leaders at any level. We do, though, have the privilege of sustaining them.<br />
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The ways of the Lord are different from the ways of man. Man’s ways remove people from office or business when they grow old or become disabled. But man’s ways are not and never will be the Lord’s ways. Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities. Our sustaining is an oath-like indication that we recognize their calling as a prophet to be legitimate and binding upon us.<br />
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Twenty-six years before he became President of the Church, then-Elder George Albert Smith said: “The obligation that we make when we raise our hands … is a most sacred one. It does not mean that we will go quietly on our way and be willing that the prophet of the Lord shall direct this work, but it means … that we will stand behind him;we will pray for him; we will defend his good name, and we will strive to carry out his instructions as the Lord shall direct.”11<br />
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The living Lord leads His living Church!12 The Lord reveals His will for the Church to His prophet. Yesterday, after we were invited to sustain Thomas S. Monson as President of the Church, we also had the privilege to sustain him, the counselors in the First Presidency,and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets,seers, and revelators. Think of that! We sustain 15 men as prophets of God! They hold all the priesthood keys that have ever been conferred upon man in this dispensation.<br />
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The calling of 15 men to the holy apostleship provides great protection for us as members of the Church. Why? Because decisions of these leaders must be unanimous.13 Can you imagine how the Spirit needs to move upon 15 men to bring about unanimity? These 15 men have varied educational and professional backgrounds, with differing opinions about many things. Trust me!These 15 men—prophets, seers, and revelators—know what the will of the Lord is when unanimity is reached! They are committed to see that the Lord’s will truly will be done. The Lord’s Prayer provides the pattern for each of these 15 men when they pray: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”14<br />
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The Apostle with the longest seniority in the office of Apostle presides.15 That system of seniority will usually bring older men to the office of President of the Church.16 It provides continuity,seasoned maturity, experience, and extensive preparation, as guided by the Lord.<br />
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The Church today has been organized by the Lord Himself. He has put in place a remarkable system of governance that provides redundancy and backup. That system provides for prophetic leadership even when the inevitable illnesses and incapacities may come with advancing age.17 Counterbalances and safeguards abound so that no one can ever lead the Church astray. Senior leaders are constantly being tutored such that one day they are ready to sit in the highest councils. They learn how to hear the voice of the Lord through the whisperings of the Spirit.<br />
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While serving as First Counselor to President Ezra Taft Benson, who was then nearing the end of his mortal life, President Gordon B. Hinckley explained:<br />
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“The principles and procedures which the Lord has put in place for the governance of His church make provision for any …circumstance. It is important … that there be no doubts or concerns about the governance of the Church and the exercise of the prophetic gifts, including the right to inspiration and revelation in administering the affairs and programs of the Church, when the President may be ill or is not able to function fully.<br />
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“The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles, called and ordained to hold the keys of the priesthood, have the authority and responsibility to govern the Church, to administer its ordinances, to expound its doctrine, and to establish and maintain its practices.”<br />
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President Hinckley continued:<br />
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“When the President is ill or not able to function fully in all of the duties of his office, his two Counselors together comprise a Quorum of the First Presidency. They carry on with the day-to-day work of the Presidency. …<br />
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“… But any major questions of policy, procedures, programs, or doctrine are considered deliberately and prayerfully by the First Presidency and the Twelve together.”18<br />
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Last year, when President Monson reached the milestone of 5 years of service as President of the Church, he reflected on his 50 years of apostolic service and made this statement: “Age eventually takes itstoll on all of us. However, we join our voices with King Benjamin, who said, … ‘I am like as yourselves, subject to all manner of infirmities in body and mind; yet I have been chosen … and consecrated by my father, … and have been kept and preserved by his matchless power,to serve you with all the might, mind and strength which the Lord hath granted unto me’ (Mosiah 2:11).”<br />
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President Monson continued: “Despite any health challenges that may come to us, despite any weakness in body or mind, we serve tot he best of our ability. I assure you that the Church is in good hands.The system set up for the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve [Apostles] assures [us] that it will always be in good hands and that, come what may, there is no need to worry or to fear. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, whom we follow, whom we worship,and whom we serve, is ever at the helm.”19<br />
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President Monson, we thank you for those truths! And we thank you for your lifetime of exemplary and dedicated service. May I presume to speak for the members of the Church throughout the world in our united and sincere expression of gratitude for you. We honor you!We love you! We sustain you, not only with uplifted hands but with all our hearts and consecrated efforts. Humbly and fervently, “we ever pray for thee, our prophet dear”!20 In the name of Jesus Christ,amen.<br />
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Thanks yall for what you do!!!!<br />
<br />
Elder RichardsonLouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-66413859305221464342016-03-23T19:57:00.006-07:002016-03-23T19:57:58.889-07:00The Morning BreaksFwd: The Morning Breaks<br />
People<br />
richardd6776 <richardd6776@yahoo.com> Today at 8:52 PM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo com<br />
Message body<br />
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-------- Original message --------<br />
From: Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net><br />
Date: 03/07/2016 2:56 PM (GMT-07:00)<br />
To:<br />
Subject: The Morning Breaks<br />
<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
I hope yall are doing good. This week was amazing. We saw many miracles and worked really hard like always. We had 17 lessons this week which was amazing. On Monday we did family home evening with a member, Rico, and his wife who is not a member, Sharika. It was really good. We also had referral named Mario. We went and saw him and shared a scripture with him and got an appointment with him this week. We also saw our investigator Dalton. We read a chapter out of the book of Mormon with him. We also saw Jose Vargas a couple of times and read the book of Mormon with him. Another of our Spanish investigators named aurora came to church.<br />
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We also got to go see Miss Pat. She gave us some crawfish. It was really good. She didn't come to church so we may have to move her baptismal date. She was going to come... We will have to do a lesson on the importance of church attendance....<br />
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We also did a lot of tracting and saw miracles from that. We found two new people. We taught them both the restoration. It was a really fun experience. Most people talked to us about politics about trump and Clinton. HAHA<br />
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We also had a fun experience today. We went with our branch mission leader brother viator to the ocean and got to have fun on the beach. It was so nice to visit the ocean.<br />
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So for my spiritual thought today comes from Bruce R McConkie's talk The Testimony of Jesus. From this talk came the hymn I believe in Christ which was published after his death in 1985.<br />
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I asked the Lord what he would have me say on this occasion and received the distinct and affirmative impression that I should bear testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.<br />
I have what is known as “the testimony of Jesus,” which means that I know by personal revelation from the Holy Spirit to my soul that Jesus is the Lord; that he brought life and immortality to light through the gospel; and that he has restored in this day the fullness of his everlasting truth, so that we with the ancients can become inheritors of his presence in eternity.<br />
Now a testimony comes from the Spirit of God. There is no other source. And when a testimony is borne, it has to be borne by the power of the Spirit. And so I desire and pray fervently that I may be guided by that power on this occasion, so that what I say will be the mind and will and voice of the Lord.<br />
I desire to bear testimony to myself, to you as members of the Church, and to all the world. As I speak by the power of the Spirit, if my testimony is to sink into your hearts and be in you a well springing up unto eternal life—if your hearts are to burn within you, so that you will know of the truth and divinity of the words spoken—you must be guided by the power of the same Spirit, and so I pray that your hearts may be opened and that your souls will burn within you and you will know of the verity of what is said.<br />
I shall take the liberty, both by way of testimony and to set the tone for what is involved, to read these words of my own composition:<br />
I Believe in Christ<br />
I believe in Christ, he is my king;<br />
With all my heart to him I’ll sing;<br />
I’ll raise my voice in praise and joy,<br />
In grand amens my tongue employ.<br />
I believe in Christ, he is God’s Son;<br />
On earth to dwell his soul did come;<br />
He healed the sick, the dead he raised,<br />
Good works were his, his name be praised.<br />
I believe in Christ, O blessed name,<br />
As Mary’s Son he came to reign<br />
’Mid mortal men, his earthly kin,<br />
To save them from the woes of sin.<br />
I believe in Christ, who marked the path,<br />
Who did gain all his Father hath,<br />
Who said to men: “Come, follow me,<br />
That ye, my friends, with God may be.”<br />
I believe in Christ—my Lord, my God—<br />
My feet he plants on gospel sod;<br />
I’ll worship him with all my might;<br />
He is the source of truth and light.<br />
I believe in Christ, he ransoms me;<br />
From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,<br />
And I shall live with joy and love<br />
In his eternal courts above.<br />
I believe in Christ, he stands supreme;<br />
From him I’ll gain my fondest dream;<br />
And while I strive through grief and pain,<br />
His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.”<br />
I believe in Christ; so come what may,<br />
With him I’ll stand in that great day<br />
When on this earth he comes again,<br />
To rule among the sons of men.<br />
Now, salvation originates with God our Heavenly Father. Indeed, salvation is to be like him, to inherit, possess, and receive what he enjoys. If we are to know God, we must believe as he believes, think as he thinks, and experience what he experiences.<br />
The great plan of salvation was created by our Heavenly Father, to enable us to advance and progress and become like him. But salvation is centered in Christ. The plan called for the creation and peopling of this earth, so that we might come here and gain experiences that were not available in any other way.<br />
We dwelt with our Father in the eternities that preceded this life. We were present when the great cry went forth from him through the midst of eternity: “Whom shall I send to be my son, to work out the infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice, to put in full force and operation the terms and conditions of my eternal plan?” We were there, and in the poetic language of Elder Orson F. Whitney, we beheld:<br />
“A stature mingling strength with grace<br />
Of meek though Godlike mien,<br />
The glory of whose countenance<br />
Outshone the noonday sheen.<br />
Whiter his hair than ocean spray,<br />
Or frost of alpine hill.<br />
He spake:—attention grew more grave,<br />
The stillness e’en more still.<br />
“‘Father!’—the voice like music fell,<br />
Clear as the murmuring flow<br />
Of mountain streamlet trickling down<br />
From heights of virgin snow.<br />
‘Father,’ it said, ‘since one must die,<br />
Thy children to redeem,<br />
Whilst earth, as yet unformed and void,<br />
With pulsing life shall teem;<br />
“‘And mighty Michael foremost fall,<br />
That mortal man may be,<br />
And chosen Savior Thou must send,<br />
Lo, here am I—send me!<br />
I ask, I seek no recompense,<br />
Save that which then were mine;<br />
Mine be the willing sacrifice,<br />
The endless glory Thine.’”<br />
—Joseph Fielding Smith, Way to Perfection, p. 52.<br />
Now salvation is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the language of the angel who came to King Benjamin: “… salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” (Mosiah 3:18.)<br />
Joseph Smith was asked, “What are the fundamental principles of your religion?” He answered: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” (Documentary History of the Church, vol. 3, p. 30.)<br />
That is to say, the atoning sacrifice of the Lord is the center of all things, as far as we are concerned. God our Heavenly Father created us, without which we would have no existence. And Christ the Son has redeemed us, without which there would be neither immortality nor eternal life.<br />
Now the glorious thing that has happened in this day is that the heavens have been opened; that God has spoken again; that he has called living oracles, men who are apostles and prophets, to be his mouthpiece, to declare his mind and his purpose and his will to the world; and his message is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ; and it is administered in the Church which bears his name.<br />
Now, my voice is the voice of testimony. I bear record of the truth and divinity of this work. But my voice is not alone. It is not one voice crying in a wilderness.<br />
The testimony that I bear is just an echo of the testimonies that have been borne by faithful people from the spring of 1820, when the Father and the Son appeared to usher in this last great dispensation of eternal truth. And the testimony that I bear is but a harbinger of that testimony which yet will be borne by ten thousand times ten thousand people, redeemed out of every nation and kindred and tongue and people, redeemed by obedience to the message that God restored through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith in this day.<br />
And if there is one wondrous thing about this work, it is that it is true; that there is saving efficacy and virtue and force in the gospel of Jesus Christ; and that the power of God unto salvation is found here in the tops of these everlasting hills; and this glorious truth is spreading out to all the nations of the earth as rapidly as people in them accept the testimony and witness that is borne and believe the truths that our fellow representatives proclaim. This is a day of which God has said that all of gathered Israel shall be witnesses of his name. “… ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” (Isa. 43:12.)<br />
This is a day when he has said that every elder in his kingdom, everyone who holds the holy priesthood, has power to speak in his name, to have the Holy Ghost bear record and enlighten his mind, and to proclaim the truths of salvation.<br />
I proclaim these truths and desire in my heart to have men believe and obey. I think I can say with Nephi that the fullness of mine intent is to persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and be saved—because the work is true, because salvation is in Christ. And God being our witness, it is true. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.<br />
<br />
May we develop a strong testimony of the Savior. I'm so grateful for the Savior and all he has done for us. Especially this Easter season. I know the Savior lives. He loves us. He sees as who we are and who we can be. Not who we were. I know that through his atoning sacrifice we may be purified and stand before him and the father and be granted all the our Heavenly Father has!!! May yall have an amazing week!!! The Gospel restored through the prophet joseph smith is true!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-54101378247150038722016-03-23T19:56:00.000-07:002016-03-23T19:56:00.491-07:00Christ the Lord is Risen today March 7, 2016HEY EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
This week was an awesome week. It was fairly busy again! We had the opportunity to see most of our investigators this week. We are having to reschedule Aurora and her daughters baptism to the 9th so we could better prepare them. If any of you all have promptings to help with the work DO IT!!!! My mom months ago sent me two book of mormons with tabs with answers to questions in them. I ended up giving them to Aurora's daughters and last week when we went by and the oldest girl read the questions and answers. The question "why should I.be baptized stood out to her and she read the answer in the book of mormon. She said she felt the spirit so strong when reading that.<br />
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We were also able to see miss. pat. She is really struggling with her health. She has a bad infection in her leg and will probably need surgery so we may have to move her baptism again! We talked about the plan of salvation with her.<br />
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We also met a part member called the Desermouxs. The mom and kids are a member but the husband is not. They are a really cool family that moved into the branch a couple of months ago. She has an awesome conversion story. He prayed that his family would find a church and 3 hours later missionaries knocked on their door. She and the children converted in Texas but he still has a lot of questions about Joseph Smith. Me and him talked a lot. He really likes to hunt and fish. He goes with her to church. We are going to help them on Tuesday with some yard work so hopefully we can be able to find out what we can do to help him. He is really awesome. His boss antis him a lot he was telling us, but he says the Church has done nothing but good for his family. We are just going to have to help him recongize that all of it points to the prophet joseph smith. He believes everything accept Joseph Smith being a prophet. We talked a little bit about the Priesthood with him yesterday.<br />
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We also helped out with the Easter egg hunt in the branch. It was really fun to help out with that. THOSE KIDS ARE VULTURES! The eggs were gone in seconds. HAHA.<br />
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We also found new investigators in a town called Jeanerette and taught them the Restoration. We even found a spanish guy!<br />
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It has been really busy down here. I can't believe I have 101 days left. I dont even have time to think of it. I was also able to finish the book of Mormon again. It was also a little chilly this week.<br />
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So as missionaries we have the opportunity to share followhim.mormon.org for easter. We have had a lot of success getting media referals from it for Bibles and Book of mormons. I invite yall to view the video and share it through social media outlets.<br />
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With me finishing The Book of Mormon I would like to share one of my favorite talks by Bruce R McConkie "What think ye of The Book Of Mormon"<br />
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Two ministers of one of the largest and most powerful Protestant denominations came to a Latter-day Saint conference to hear me preach. After the meeting I had a private conversation with them, in which I said they could each gain a testimony that Joseph Smith was the prophet through whom the Lord had restored the fulness of the gospel for our day and for our time. I told them they should read the Book of Mormon, ponder its great and eternal truths, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ, in faith, and he would reveal the truth of the book to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. As every gospel scholar knows, the Book of Mormon proves that Joseph Smith was called of God to minister in the prophetic office and to restore the truths of salvation in plainness and perfection. The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It contains a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. It is another testament of Jesus Christ. It contains the fulness of the gospel, meaning that it is a record of the Lord’s dealings with a people who had the fulness of the gospel, and meaning also that in it is found a summary and a recitation of what all men must believe and do to gain an inheritance in the heavenly kingdom reserved for the Saints. As the teachings and testimonies of Moses and Isaiah and Peter and place in the Bible, so the parallel preaching and the same Spirit-guided testimonies of Nephi and Alma and Moroni have come down to us in the Book of Mormon. This American witness of Christ was written upon gold plates which were delivered to Joseph Smith by an angelic ministrant. This ancient record was then translated by the gift and power of God and is now published to the world as the Book of Mormon. If this book is what it purports to be—if the original record was revealed by a holy angel; if the translation was made by the power of God and not of man; if Joseph Smith was entertaining angels, seeing visions, and receiving revelations—all of which is an established verity; if the Book of Mormon is true—then the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon proves the truth of this great latter-day work in which we are engaged. All of this I explained to my two Protestant friends. One of them, a congenial and decent sort of fellow, said somewhat casually that he would read the Book of Mormon. The other minister, manifesting a bitter spirit, said: “I won’t read it. We have experts who have read the Book of Mormon, and I have read what our experts have to say about it.” This account dramatizes one of our problems in presenting the message of the Book of Mormon to the world. There are sincere and devout people everywhere who have heard what other people say about this volume of holy writ, and so they do not read it themselves. Instead of drinking from that fountain from whence clear streams of living water flow, they prefer to go downstream and drink from the roily, muddy, poison-filled streams of the world. The plain fact is that salvation itself is at stake in this matter. If the Book of Mormon is true—if it is a volume of holy scripture, if it contains the mind and will and voice of the Lord to all men, if it is a divine witness of the prophetic call of Joseph Smith—then to accept it and believe its doctrines is to be saved, and to reject it and walk contrary to its teachings is to be damned. Let this message be sounded in every ear with an angelic trump; let it roll round the earth in resounding claps of never-ending thunder; let it be whispered in every heart by the still, small voice. Those who believe the Book of Mormon and accept Joseph Smith as a prophet thereby open the door to salvation; those who reject the book outright or who simply fail to learn its message and believe its teachings never so much as begin to travel that course along the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal life. Shortly after my experience with these two ministers, two other ministers from the same denomination came to another of our conferences to hear me preach. And, once again, after the meeting I had a private discussion with them. My message was the same. Taking the Book of Mormon as their guide, they must read, ponder, and pray in order to gain a witness from the Spirit as to the truth and divinity of this great latter-day work. I told them of my prior experience with their two colleagues and how one of them had refused to read the Book of Mormon, saying that they had experts who had read the book and he had read what their experts had said. I then said, “What is it going to take to get you gentlemen to read the Book of Mormon and find out for yourselves what is involved, rather than relying on the views of your experts?” One of these ministers, holding my copy of the Book of Mormon in his hands, let the pages flip past his eyes in a matter of seconds. As he did so, he said, “Oh, I’ve read the Book of Mormon.” I had a momentary flash of spiritual insight that let me know that his reading had been about as extensive as the way he had just flipped the pages. In his reading he had done no more than scan a few of the headings and read an isolated verse or two. A lovely young lady, a convert to the Church whose father was a minister of the same denomination as my four Protestant friends, was listening to my conversation with the second two. At this point she spoke up and said, “But Reverend, you have to pray about it.” He replied, “Oh, I prayed about it. I said, ‘O God, if the Book of Mormon is true, strike me dead’; and here I am.” My unspoken impulse was to give this rejoinder: “But Reverend, you have to pray in faith!” This account dramatizes another of our problems in teaching those who read the Book of Mormon how to read it in order to gain the promised witness by the power of the Holy Ghost. The pattern for this was set in the experience of Oliver Cowdery. He desired not alone to act as a scribe to Joseph Smith but also to translate directly from the plates. After much importuning, the Lord permitted Brother Cowdery to try. The divine authorization contained these provisos: “Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not. … And according to your faith shall it be done unto you.” (D&C 8:10– 11.) Oliver tried to translate and failed. Then came the divine word: “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.” That is, he had not done all that in his power lay; he had expected the Lord to do it all merely because he asked. “But, behold, I say unto you,” the divine word continued, “that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” (D&C 9:7–8.) Now, if the Book of Mormon is true, our acceptance of it will lead to salvation in the highest heaven. On the other hand, if we say it is true when in fact it is not, we are thereby leading men astray and surely deserve to drop down to the deepest hell. The time is long past for quibbling about words and for hurling unsavory epithets against the Latter-day Saints. These are deep and solemn and ponderous matters. We need not think we can trifle with sacred things and escape the wrath of a just God. Either the Book of Mormon is true, or it is false; either it came from God, or it was spawned in the infernal realms. It declares plainly that all men must accept it as pure scripture or they will lose their souls. It is not and cannot be simply another treatise on religion; it either came from heaven or from hell. And it is time for all those who seek salvation to find out for themselves whether it is of the Lord or of Lucifer. May I be so bold as to propose a test and issue a challenge. It is hoped that all who take this test will have a knowledge of the Holy Bible, because the more people know about the Bible, the greater their appreciation will be of the Book of Mormon. This test is for saint and sinner alike; it is for Jew and Gentile, for bond and free, for black and white, for all of our Father’s children. We have all been commanded to search the scriptures, to treasure up the Lord’s word, to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. (See D&C 84:44.) This, then, is the test: Let every person make a list of from one hundred to two hundred doctrinal subjects, making a conscious effort to cover the whole field of gospel knowledge. The number of subjects chosen will depend on personal inclination and upon how broad the spectrum will be under each subject. Then write each subject on a blank piece of paper. Divide the paper into two columns; at the top of one, write “Book of Mormon,” and at the top of the other, “Bible.” Then start with the first verse and phrase of the Book of Mormon, and continuing verse by verse and thought by thought, put the substance of each verse under its proper heading. Find the same doctrine in the Old and New Testaments, and place it in the parallel columns. Ponder the truths you learn, and it will not be long before you know that Lehi and Jacob excel Paul in teaching the Atonement; that Alma’s sermons on faith and on being born again surpass anything in the Bible; that Nephi makes a better exposition of the scattering and gathering of Israel than do Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel combined; that Mormon’s words about faith, hope, and charity have a clarity, a breadth, and a power of expression that even Paul did not attain; and so on and so on. There is another and simpler test that all who seek to know the truth might well take. It calls for us simply to read, ponder, and pray—all in the spirit of faith and with an open mind. To keep ourselves alert to the issues at hand—as we do read, ponder, and pray—we should ask ourselves a thousand times, “Could any man have written this book?” And it is absolutely guaranteed that sometime between the first and thousandth time this question is asked, every sincere and genuine truth seeker will come to know by the power of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the mind and will and voice of the Lord to the whole world in our day. We ask, then: What think ye of the Book of Mormon? Who can tell its wonder and worth? How many martyrs have suffered death in the flesh to bring it forth and carry its saving message to a wicked world? We answer: It is a book, a holy book, a book of sacred, saving scripture. It is a voice from the dust, a voice that whispers low out of the earth, telling of a fallen people who sank into an endless oblivion because they forsook their God. It is truth springing out of the earth as righteousness looks down from heaven. It is the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, which will guide all Israel, the ten tribes included, to return to Him whom their fathers worshipped. It contains the word that will gather the whole house of Israel and make them once again one nation upon the mountains of Israel, as it was in the days of their fathers. It is an account of the ministry of the Son of God to his other sheep in the day they saw his face and heard his voice and believed his word. It is the divine evidence, the proof, that God has spoken in our day. Its chief purpose is to convince all men, Jew and Gentile alike, that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, who manifests himself, by faith, in all ages and among all peoples. . It came forth in our day proving to the world that the Bible is true; that Jesus, by whom the Atonement came, is Lord of all; that Joseph Smith was called of God, as were the prophets of old; that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one place on earth where salvation is found. It is the book that will save the world and prepare the sons of men for joy and peace here and now and everlasting life in eternity. As it happens, I am one of the many who have come to know, by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to my soul, that the Book of Mormon is true. And, knowing that I will be accountable for that witness before the bar of the great Jehovah when he judges all men, I testify that as he lives the Book of Mormon is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
<br />
I know The Book Of Mormon is true. I reflected on Moroni's promise and thoughts of all the happiness and peace the Book of Mormon has given me! I know it is true! By that book I have come to a knowledge of fullness of the everlasting gospel. It is through the book of mormon we can gain a knowledge of the truthfulness of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus christ. The Church is true. Our Savior Jesus Christ lives! HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY AND HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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Make yourself at home.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-22354866621990184732016-03-23T19:53:00.000-07:002016-03-23T19:53:08.542-07:00School thy feelings School thy Feelings<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Mar 14 at 11:20 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!<br />
This week was an awesome week. The rain was really bad this week but everyone is ok. We didn't get hit to hard but we were still put on Lock down. We also had interviews this week. Mine were really good. He talked a lot about going home in it actually.... I told him the realization happened while we were tracting and I told him it made me a little sad to realize I wont have too much of an opportunity to do this. He said DONT be sad you have so much to look forward to when you get home!!! HAHA. It was a really good interview. We had Zone Conference. It was a long day because we live far away from the Stake Center. I lived 2 minutes away from it in baton rouge and now I live over 2 hours away. We didn't get back until 6:30. We found a Popeyes buffet on our way back from Lafayette!!! It was so good!!!! <br />
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We were able to see Miss. Pat. We shared with her The Purifying Power of Gethsemane. She really enjoyed that. It really caught my attention to how much we know because she didn't even know about the garden tomb or where the Resurrection occurred. It strengthened my testimony of the importance of Gethsemane, Golgotha, and the Garden of the empty tomb. We had to change her date to April 9th. We are going to stress the importance of church.<br />
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We also visited a guy named Clarence and retaught him the restoration. We also visited Dalton and read the Book of Mormon with him. We were able to see Brother Alfaro. We shared a talk by Dieter F Uchtorf titled "A Matter of A Few Degrees" He really liked that since it is about airplanes.<br />
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We also had the opportunity to see Aurora, a Spanish investigator.. US and the sisters have been teaching her because she is not as open when her husband is there. One of the english sisters is Honduran and can speak spanish but doesn't know the gospel much in spanish. Aurora just came out this week saying she wanted to be baptized on the 26th. She wants her three daughters to listen to the gospel. We have a lot to do to get them ready... We taught the daughters the restoration and taught Aurora some of the commandments.<br />
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We had the opportunity to see Jose Vargas. That was a really good visit. We continued to read the Book of Mormon with him. He is in 3 nephi. We also had the opportunity to visit sister fresh. She is doing really good. She fed us and we had the opportunity to follow up with how she has been.<br />
<br />
We also had the opportunity to teach Rico's Cousin Micheal. He came to church and we taught him the restoration and gave him a baptismal date for April 16th. It was an awesome lesson. He got stabbed two weeks ago. It was really awesome to see how his testimony of God's love.<br />
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We have had an awesome week. My thought comes from Gordon B. Hinckley entitled Slow to Anger.<br />
<br />
My beloved brethren, wherever you may be, here in the Conference Center or in a Church hall far away across the seas, what a remarkable thing it is that we can speak in this Conference Center and that you can hear what we say in a place as far away as Cape Town, South Africa.<br />
<br />
I have chosen tonight to speak to the subject of anger. I realize that this is a little unusual, but I think it is timely.<br />
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A proverb in the Old Testament states: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).<br />
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It is when we become angry that we get into trouble. The road rage that affects our highways is a hateful expression of anger. I dare say that most of the inmates of our prisons are there because they did something when they were angry. In their wrath they swore, they lost control of themselves, and terrible things followed, even murder. There were moments of offense followed by years of regret.<br />
<br />
This story is told concerning Charles W. Penrose. He was a convert to the Church and served as a missionary in England for some 11 years. When he was released, he sold some of his belongings to pay for his trip to Zion. Some of the Saints observing him said that he was taking Church property.<br />
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This angered him so, that he went upstairs in his residence, sat down, and wrote these verses, which are familiar to you. (See Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages [1988], 323.)<br />
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School thy feelings, O my brother;<br />
Train thy warm, impulsive soul.<br />
Do not its emotions smother,<br />
But let wisdom’s voice control.<br />
School thy feelings; there is power<br />
In the cool, collected mind.<br />
Passion shatters reason’s tower,<br />
Makes the clearest vision blind. …<br />
School thy feelings; condemnation<br />
Never pass on friend or foe,<br />
Though the tide of accusation<br />
Like a flood of truth may flow.<br />
Hear defense before deciding,<br />
And a ray of light may gleam,<br />
Showing thee what filth is hiding<br />
Underneath the shallow stream.<br />
School thy feelings, O my brother;<br />
Train thy warm, impulsive soul.<br />
Do not its emotions smother,<br />
But let wisdom’s voice control.<br />
Many years ago I worked for one of our railroads. A switchman was aimlessly strolling about the platform one day. I asked him to move a car to another track. He exploded. He threw his cap on the pavement and jumped up and down on it, swearing like a drunken sailor. I stood there and laughed at his childish behavior. Noting my laughter, he began to laugh at his own foolishness. He then quietly climbed on the switch engine, drove it over to the empty car, and moved it to an empty track.<br />
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I thought of a verse from Ecclesiastes: “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).<br />
<br />
Anger is the mother of a whole brood of evil actions.<br />
<br />
I clipped from the morning newspaper a story that led off with this statement: “More than half the Americans who might have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversaries since 2000 were divorced, separated or widowed before reaching that milestone” (Sam Roberts, “Most U.S. Marriages Don’t Get to Silver,” Deseret Morning News, Sept. 20, 2007, p. A1).<br />
<br />
Widowhood of course is beyond the control of the parties, but divorce and separation are not.<br />
<br />
Divorce too often is the bitter fruit of anger. A man and a woman fall in love, as they say; each is wonderful in the sight of the other; they feel romantic affection for no one else; they stretch their finances to buy a diamond ring; they marry. All is bliss—that is, for a season. Then little inconsequential activities lead to criticism. Little flaws are magnified into great torrents of faultfinding; they fall apart, they separate, and then with rancor and bitterness they divorce.<br />
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It is the cycle which is repeated again and again in thousands of cases. It is tragic, and, as I have said, it is in most cases the bitter fruit of anger.<br />
<br />
I think of my own marriage. My eternal companion passed away three and a half years ago. But we lived together for 67 years. I have no recollection of ever having a quarrel with her. She traveled with me and spoke on every continent, pleading for the exercise of restraint, kindness, and love.<br />
<br />
A small publication that came to me some years ago carried the following:<br />
<br />
Once a man who had been slandered by a newspaper came to Edward Everett asking what to do about it. Said Everett, “Do nothing! Half the people who bought the paper never saw the article. Half of those who saw it, did not read it. Half of those who read it, did not understand it. Half of those who understood it, did not believe it. Half of those who believed it are of no account anyway” (“Sunny Side of the Street,” Nov. 1989; see also Zig Ziglar, Staying Up, Up, Up in a Down, Down World [2000], 174).<br />
<br />
So many of us make a great fuss of matters of small consequence. We are so easily offended. Happy is the man who can brush aside the offending remarks of another and go on his way.<br />
<br />
Grudges, if left to fester, can become serious maladies. Like a painful ailment they can absorb all of our time and attention. Guy de Maupassant has written an interesting chronicle that illustrates this.<br />
<br />
It concerns Master Hauchecome, who on market day went to town. He was afflicted with rheumatism, and as he stumbled along he noticed a piece of string on the ground in front of him. He picked it up and carefully put it in his pocket. He was seen doing so by his enemy, the harness maker.<br />
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At the same time it was reported to the mayor that a pocketbook containing money had been lost. It was assumed that what Hauchecome had picked up was the pocketbook, and he was accused of taking it. He vehemently denied the charge. A search of his clothing disclosed only the piece of string, but the slander against him had so troubled him that he became obsessed with it. Wherever he went he bothered to tell people about it. He became such a nuisance that they cried out against him. It sickened him.<br />
<br />
“His mind kept growing weaker and about the end of December he took to his bed.<br />
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“He passed away early in January, and, in the ravings of [his] death agony, he protested his innocence, repeating:<br />
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“‘A little [piece] of string—a little [piece] of string. See, here it is, [Mister Mayor.]’”<br />
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The story is told that reporters were interviewing a man on his birthday. He had reached an advanced age. They asked him how he had done it.<br />
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He replied, “When my wife and I were married we determined that if we ever got in a quarrel one of us would leave the house. I attribute my longevity to the fact that I have breathed good fresh air throughout my married life.”<br />
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Anger may be justified in some circumstances. The scriptures tell us that Jesus drove the money changers from the temple, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).<br />
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But even this was spoken more as a rebuke than as an outburst of uncontrolled anger.<br />
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Now, my dear brethren, in closing I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you will do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful.<br />
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May the Lord bless you and inspire you to walk without anger, without bitterness of any kind, but to reach out to others with expressions of friendship, appreciation, and love. This is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
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I know that through Jesus Christ we can give our burdens, our anger, and our frustration. One of my favorite lines from a hymn called How Gentle God commands is "I'll drop my burden at his feet and bare a song the way." Some times it can be hard when others criticize us when we feel we are doing our best. Through the savior we can have peace and receive peace in our hearts. Through the Love of the savior we can drop what ever burden we may have. May we continue to have peace and happiness through the gospel and peace that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you all yall for your prayers and all that yall do! The Gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith! This church is true! It is only thing that can bring peace to this world and offer exaltation and salvation to all those who believe on it and live it. Christ lives. This mission has been the best experience of my life!!!<br />
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Elder Richardson<br />
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Make yourself at home.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-20749729784716514542016-03-23T19:50:00.000-07:002016-03-23T19:50:04.055-07:00If you Could Hie to Kolob February 29,2016<br />
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Could Hie to Kolob<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Feb 29 at 11:08 AM<br />
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larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!!<br />
<br />
This week was really good. I sure yall had the opportunity to see the crazy weather we had. It wasn't that bad. The only thing that made it bad was there were tornados in random areas of the mission. There was a tornado in Franklin but that was it. The Tornado that we were in the Westbank a year ago was a lot worst then this storm. It wasn't that bad. It certain areas of the mission it was really bad, but for us it was just a little rain.<br />
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So this week we were able to see Ms. Pat. She is really excited for her baptismal date March 26. She has been to church a couple of times but she does have a hard time going because of some health problems she has. We gave her a blessing. It was definitely a spirit led blessing. I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit. She really enjoyed that and bore her testimony of the gospel. We went over the baptismal questions. She is good on everything but we want to see her come to church more often. She was busy this last Sunday so hopefully she will come this next week.<br />
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We were also able to do a lot of tracting. The people here are not as receptive as in other areas I have been in. But that is ok. We have been working hard though.<br />
<br />
We also had the opportunity to do splits with Brother Stanely and Brother Viator. I went with brother Stanely and we visited an investigator named Dalton. We talked about the Book of mormon with him and invited him to read it.<br />
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We also had the opportunity to visit our spanish investigator Jose Vargas. We read the Book of Mormon with him. He wants to be baptized but he wants to finish the book of mormon before he does.<br />
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We also saw a couple of less actives. We saw one named Brother Alvaro. Missionaries have had a hard time getting to be his friend because he is really really into talking about airplanes. It was really cool because we talked a lot about airplanes.<br />
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We also saw one guy named bro eric who who we are trying to help prepare for the temple. He is very Cajun. Half of his house is sinking into the ground.<br />
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It was really cool on Sunday we had branch conference. There was a lady there that attended church tat looked really familiar. I realized that it was sister Fresh from the Westbank!!!!! It was so awesome to see her again and talk to her!!! She moved to New Iberia recently!!!! It was a real tender mercy of the lord to be able to see her again. She moved from Mississippi here to New Iberia. She looked a lot different and was much more happier!!!! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be able to visit her again. This June she will be able to go to the temple.<br />
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In Jeremiah 1:5 we read<br />
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5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.<br />
<br />
In Abraham 3 22-25 we read<br />
22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;<br />
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23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me:Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.<br />
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24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;<br />
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25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;<br />
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In the restored gospel. Truths have been restored of the plan that our God has given man to have happiness, joy, and peace in this life and eternal happiness in the life to God.<br />
<br />
We lived with our heavenly father. God is the Father of our Spirits. His work and his glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. We have been sent down to earth to be tested and tried.<br />
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The Center of the Plan of Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Through it all, he is the center. In the Premortal life we were given a knowledge that a Savior would be provided. Though the fall of Adam and Eve God provided a Savior so that all man kind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We can have peace and joy in this life when our lifes are built on the teachings of the savior.<br />
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Through the ordinances of the temple families can be together forever. Those who have died without of a knowledge can be saved through the proxy ordiances provided in the temples. Death cannot separate us from those we love. After this life our spirits go to the spirit world where the faithful preach to those who did not have the opportunity to receive.<br />
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When the Savior comes He shall be clothed with glory. "That glorious rest will then commence which prophets did foretell When Saints will reign with Christ on Earth And in his presence dwell. A thousand years Oh Glorious day! Dear Lord, Prepare my heart to stand with thee on Zions Mount and nevermore to part."<br />
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After the Thousand years the earth will be renewed The vanquishment of Satan and his hosts shall be complete. The dead, small and great, all who have breathed the breath of life on earth, shall be resurrected—every soul that has tabernacled in flesh,whether good or evil—and shall stand before God, to be judged according to the record as written in the books.q So shall be brought to glorious consummation the mission of the Christ. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet.”r Then shall the Lord Jesus “deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father spotless,saying—I have overcome and have trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. Then shall he be crowned with the crown of his glory, to sit on the throne of his power to reign for ever and ever.”s The earth shall pass to its glorified and celestialized condition, an eternal abode for the exalted sons and daughters of God. tForever shall they reign, kings and priests to the Most High, redeemed, sanctified, and exalted through their Lord and God<br />
Jesus the Christ.<br />
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We have the opportunity to live with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus for eternity and receive all that the Father hath. I know the gospel is true. Through our Savior we can be redeemed from sin and death.<br />
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YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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Make yourself at home.<br />
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<br />LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-33035712631968898692016-03-23T19:42:00.003-07:002016-03-23T19:42:46.655-07:00If you could high to Kolob <br />
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Behold! A Royal Army<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Feb 22 at 11:52 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!!<br />
<br />
So this week I was transferred to a small town called New Iberia. It is 20 miles south of Lafayette. This town is like one of those ghetto small towns from a movie. This will most likely be my last area. It has a small branch of about 40 people who attend church. It is an english unit and most of our work is english. We meet in this mini LDS Church building. It has awesome people. We have been fed quite often. We also have a car which is really nice.<br />
<br />
Last week I was able to say good bye to the Ottinelli Family and Brother Shute and the other missionaries I served around. It was sad but I was ready for a new area.<br />
<br />
When we got there we were a blt to do some apartment cleaning because it needed it. HAHA.<br />
<br />
We had FHE with Sister Garza. That was really fun. We also visited a less active named Sister Greenie.<br />
<br />
We were able to visit an investigator named Miss Pat. She is an awesome lady. She has been investigating for 3 years. Everyone in the town knows Miss Pat. She is the "Hood Mama". She is really nice. We retaught her the restoration. At the end we asked her if she knew the church was true and she had told us she has read the book of mormon and knows that it is true. We gave her a baptismal date for March 26th and she accepted. That was awesome. The spirit was really strong but we have a lot of work to do to prepare her for that.<br />
<br />
We also got to have dinner with Brother Stanley. He reminds me exactly of Great Grandpa. He is really nice. We got to eat dinner and play cards with him.<br />
<br />
We got to do a service project on Saturday with Brother Stanley, Brother Viator the branch mission leader and his wife who is not a member Mama Fran, and the Davis Family to pick up trash in the City of Baldwin. After Mama Fran cooked us some Gumbo.<br />
<br />
We were able to do some Missionary work down in Franklin with Brother Viator. We had a media referal for Kevin and Angela. We taught them the restoration. That was an awesome lesson. We got a return appointment with to teach them about the Book of Mormon. That night we went with Brother Stanley and had Chinese food.<br />
<br />
Sunday was awesome. We had an investigator show up to church......😕 Her name is Janice and the elders before tracted into her and then they gave her to the sisters and then they gave her back to us last week because she has the hots for one of the sisters..... YA........ HAHA.......... <br />
<br />
After us and the sisters went tracting. We did a little competition they took one side of the street and we took another. We taught two lessons but no return appointments. One lady told us to come back named On. She is Asian. There were a lot of Asians on the street. This one guy we tracted into and taught him the restoration. At the end of the lesson his wife came out and then when we asked if we could come back his wife blurted out in asian accent "NO YOU CANT CUM BACK! WE HAVE BIBLE!!!! GO NOW!!!!....... 🙅 Dang it.... OH WELL.....<br />
<br />
After we had dinner with the Davis Family. They are so nice. They were awesome. We had Biscuits and Gravy with them.<br />
<br />
For my spiritual thought it is on keeping the commandments. One of my favorite scriptures is Mosiah 2 :41 41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.<br />
<br />
Hymn 303 says<br />
Keep the commandments; keep the commandments!<br />
In this there is safety; in this there is peace.<br />
He will send blessings; He will send blessings.<br />
Words of a prophet: Keep the commandments.<br />
In this there is safety and peace.<br />
<br />
President Monson said last conference "God’s commandments are not given to frustrate us or to become obstacles to our happiness. Just the opposite is true. He who created us and who loves us perfectly knows just how we need to live our lives in order to obtain the greatest happiness possible. He has provided us with guidelines which, if we follow them, will see us safely through this often treacherous mortal journey. We remember the words of the familiar hymn: “Keep the commandments! In this there is safety; in this there is peace.”<br />
<br />
Through God's commandments we can receive happiness and peace in this life. We can receive great joy and peace as we live and follow the commandments. When founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ we can have peace and happiness in our family life. I am so grateful for the commandments to give us the joy and peace that life founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ helps us.<br />
<br />
YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-13993019677183285272016-03-23T19:40:00.002-07:002016-03-23T19:40:18.252-07:00Behold a Royal Army February 22.2016<br />
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Behold! A Royal Army<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Feb 22 at 11:52 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
BCC<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
larichardson65@yahoo.com<br />
Message body<br />
HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!!<br />
<br />
So this week I was transferred to a small town called New Iberia. It is 20 miles south of Lafayette. This town is like one of those ghetto small towns from a movie. This will most likely be my last area. It has a small branch of about 40 people who attend church. It is an english unit and most of our work is english. We meet in this mini LDS Church building. It has awesome people. We have been fed quite often. We also have a car which is really nice.<br />
<br />
Last week I was able to say good bye to the Ottinelli Family and Brother Shute and the other missionaries I served around. It was sad but I was ready for a new area.<br />
<br />
When we got there we were a blt to do some apartment cleaning because it needed it. HAHA.<br />
<br />
We had FHE with Sister Garza. That was really fun. We also visited a less active named Sister Greenie.<br />
<br />
We were able to visit an investigator named Miss Pat. She is an awesome lady. She has been investigating for 3 years. Everyone in the town knows Miss Pat. She is the "Hood Mama". She is really nice. We retaught her the restoration. At the end we asked her if she knew the church was true and she had told us she has read the book of mormon and knows that it is true. We gave her a baptismal date for March 26th and she accepted. That was awesome. The spirit was really strong but we have a lot of work to do to prepare her for that.<br />
<br />
We also got to have dinner with Brother Stanley. He reminds me exactly of Great Grandpa. He is really nice. We got to eat dinner and play cards with him.<br />
<br />
We got to do a service project on Saturday with Brother Stanley, Brother Viator the branch mission leader and his wife who is not a member Mama Fran, and the Davis Family to pick up trash in the City of Baldwin. After Mama Fran cooked us some Gumbo.<br />
<br />
We were able to do some Missionary work down in Franklin with Brother Viator. We had a media referal for Kevin and Angela. We taught them the restoration. That was an awesome lesson. We got a return appointment with to teach them about the Book of Mormon. That night we went with Brother Stanley and had Chinese food.<br />
<br />
Sunday was awesome. We had an investigator show up to church......😕 Her name is Janice and the elders before tracted into her and then they gave her to the sisters and then they gave her back to us last week because she has the hots for one of the sisters..... YA........ HAHA.......... <br />
<br />
After us and the sisters went tracting. We did a little competition they took one side of the street and we took another. We taught two lessons but no return appointments. One lady told us to come back named On. She is Asian. There were a lot of Asians on the street. This one guy we tracted into and taught him the restoration. At the end of the lesson his wife came out and then when we asked if we could come back his wife blurted out in asian accent "NO YOU CANT CUM BACK! WE HAVE BIBLE!!!! GO NOW!!!!....... 🙅 Dang it.... OH WELL.....<br />
<br />
After we had dinner with the Davis Family. They are so nice. They were awesome. We had Biscuits and Gravy with them.<br />
<br />
For my spiritual thought it is on keeping the commandments. One of my favorite scriptures is Mosiah 2 :41 41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.<br />
<br />
Hymn 303 says<br />
Keep the commandments; keep the commandments!<br />
In this there is safety; in this there is peace.<br />
He will send blessings; He will send blessings.<br />
Words of a prophet: Keep the commandments.<br />
In this there is safety and peace.<br />
<br />
President Monson said last conference "God’s commandments are not given to frustrate us or to become obstacles to our happiness. Just the opposite is true. He who created us and who loves us perfectly knows just how we need to live our lives in order to obtain the greatest happiness possible. He has provided us with guidelines which, if we follow them, will see us safely through this often treacherous mortal journey. We remember the words of the familiar hymn: “Keep the commandments! In this there is safety; in this there is peace.”<br />
<br />
Through God's commandments we can receive happiness and peace in this life. We can receive great joy and peace as we live and follow the commandments. When founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ we can have peace and happiness in our family life. I am so grateful for the commandments to give us the joy and peace that life founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ helps us.<br />
<br />
YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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Make yourself at home.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-69874871971438152182016-03-23T19:38:00.001-07:002016-03-23T19:38:21.378-07:00Each life that touches ours for good February 16,2016<br />
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Each Life That Touches Ours For Good<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Feb 16 at 11:00 AM<br />
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HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!!!! EVERYBODY!!!!<br />
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So I got news that I will be leaving.... I am a little sad but I am ready to start in a new area again. Definitely this area was my hardest as far as getting the work going, but I have gained a testimony of diligence in this area. President Hinckley said, "Without hard work nothing grows but weeds" Definitely it was hard weeding the area but it is now ready for a harvest. <br />
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So this week has been awesome. We have been continuing to help those in the branch do Family History. It has been awesome seeing the spirit of Elijah and the joy the members are having in searching their ancestors. It has been a little harder to find records for those in Central and South America but Definitely we have seen miracles help others. There have been members who have enjoyed it so much that they have shared it with friends. We have gotten referrals to help non members with Family history.<br />
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We had an awesome week. We contacted a man last week named Enoch. We got a return appointment. He had a lot of questions about the pamphlet when we went back. It was an awesome lesson. He said that a lot of the doctrinal questions he had like the three separate beings, the priesthood, the apostasy he all agreed with.<br />
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We also had the opportunity to visit Omar and his mom. It was a great opportunity to gain his moms trust. She was so nice. We also had the opportunity to just talk to him. Alli wasn't working. But it was a good opportunity to talk to him and told about the family proclamation and the importance of marriage because him and his esposa are not married. It was a opportunity to talk about that with him. It was really good. He said he would start talking about it with his life.<br />
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So for my spiritual thought today is on the plan of Salvation. Each of us have accepted our first estate and have come down to earth to gain a body. In the premortal world we had a knowledge that we would have to walk by faith, experience pain and death, and would have to live by obedience; however, we were given a knowledge that a Savior would be provided to redeem us from sin and death.<br />
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In this life. All will die, but death is just a doorway to another life, where we will be reunited with the ones we love for ever where we can rest from all of our troubles and labors. In the restored gospel the temple sealing makes it possible for a man and wife with there children to be together for eternity. Through it all obedience, ordinances, grace, repentance, the plan of salvation, and atonement, we have the opportunity to inherit the Celestial Kingdom and be crowned with glory and exalted. As in Adam all must die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. One of my favorite talks is called the Race of Life by President Monson. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-race-of-life?lang=eng<br />
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I invite you all to read that talk. The church is true. Death is not the end. We can be with the ones we love for all eternity. May God bless yall this coming week!!! YALL ARE THE BEST!!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
Make yourself at home.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-78824466814280279902016-03-23T19:35:00.003-07:002016-03-23T19:35:41.723-07:00How great thou art February 8,2016HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!!<br />
So this week was really good. We did a lot of service this week. We helped a member moved from a different apartment on friday. That took all day. We also helped a lady clean up her back yard. It was really nice to be outside. We have also been helping more people do family history. We have seen some amazing miracles as we have found people. We helped a member who is trying to get back to the temple with family history. For district meeting I helped all of the members of the district to find a name so they can also help others in the branch to find names to take to the temple. On Saturday we had branch temple day so the whole district took the names to do initiatory and endowment session. It was awesome! I also saw Sister Ortega from the West Bank there so that was awesome to see her. The film was the old film. That was my first time seeing that one.<br />
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This week we had a ton of appointments with investigators but a lot fell through. We still were fairly busy with service. We were able to manage to see Wendy Mejia a less active. We also saw Alfonso we taught him family history. It was still a busy week. We also had our english class we taught. Yesterday we were able visit a couple of investigators.<br />
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So for my spiritual thought is on the apostasy. One talk that I really like was a devotional given at Ricks College. This is not done by the church but it is a great devotional.<br />
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Now will you record some dates very quickly. I’d like to build a historical case for why I believe why 1820 was the only time the gospel of Jesus Christ could have been restored and survive on the planet.<br />
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Start with the year 0 in your notes. Just write these very quickly. The year 0: the Savior was born. It wasn’t really the year 0. Five centuries later, they decided it ought to be the year 0 because that was a significant event, so it is now, in our calendars, the year 0.<br />
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30 A.D. is the next date you need to write. The Savior is now a grown man. We don’t know a great deal about His first thirty years. We have a scripture in Hebrews that says He grew in stature and wisdom and that sort of thing, but we don’t know a lot about His first thirty years.<br />
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33 A.D., third date. Three years after His ministry He had established a church. Called and established a specific form for that church. Rejected by the people and He was crucified. 33 A.D. At that point, it was the charge of the apostles and the organization of the church at that point to go throughout the world, strengthen and build the church.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 42 A.D. In 42 A.D., Peter went to Rome and established the Church in Rome. He ordained a bishop in Rome by the name of Linus. Linus is the man to whom the Catholics retrace their historical lineage.<br />
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In 43 A.D., the next date you need to write, Paul, performing the function that apostles still perform, went back to Rome to see how the church was doing. Discovered that in one short year, the church under the Bishop Linus had completely apostatized from what Peter had established. Read the first chapter of Romans in the New Testament, understanding that that chapter was written upon Paul’s return from Rome and described what he found there. As a result of this apostasy that had taken place in Rome, Paul established a new leader of the church in Rome, a deacon by the name of Linus as well. History kind of gets messed up here between the two Linuses but understand the deacon Linus was the authorized leader of the Church of Jesus Christ in Rome. Bishop Linus was an aberrant church already.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 64 A.D. In 64 A.D., Nero, then in charge in Rome, a little screwy, but he had Linus the deacon killed. When Linus the deacon was killed, the Church of Jesus Christ – the authorized, sanctioned Church of Jesus Christ – disappeared from Rome. The Christian church under the Bishop Linus was still there and surviving.<br />
The next date you need to write is 70 A.D. In 70 A.D., the Roman Tenth Legion came down through the Armagaeddon Valley under the direction of General Silva (?). Destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Between 70 A.D. and 1948, the Jewish people had nowhere to call home. They were spread throughout the world. No homeland for the Jews until 1948. That’s when the Massad Experience took place. They made a movie about that. You might remember the movie.<br />
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The next date we need to write is about 78 A.D., about I say because we’re not sure of the actual date – it was about 7 or 8 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The Bishop Linus – at that point, the church was called the Church of Rome – received a letter from one of his people, and in this letter the person said, “You know, we really are a universal church.” And Linus thought about that and said, “You know, we really are a universal church. We are trying to appeal to everyone in Rome. Why don’t we call ourselves the universal church?” At that point, they became known as the Roman Catholic Church.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 96 A.D. In 96 A.D., John, the Revelator, banished to the isle of Patmos. Understand that up to that point it was the role of the apostles to go out through the world and build the church. They had some success but not a lot. All of the apostles, save John, were killed, many of them in ugly ways. Peter, for example, was crucified in Rome. Didn’t feel worthy to be crucified the same way the Savior was so he asked if they would mind turning him upside down. They graciously accommodated him and he died on his head on a cross. 96 A.D., John is the last one left. He goes to the isle of Patmos. Between 96 and 101, the Book of Revelation is written and John disappears. Until latter-day revelation, no one ever knew what happened to John.<br />
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But in 101 A.D., the apostasy was complete. No one on the earth now authoritatively capable of saying, “Thus saith the Lord” because no one on the earth was speaking to the Lord. The apostasy now complete.<br />
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The next date you need to write: 320 A.D. In 320 A.D. – understand that between 101 and 320 A.D., life for the Christians was an ugly experience, even the Christians under the Bishop Linus. The Christians you read about in the catacombs of Rome were not the Christians that Paul had established, but they were the apostate group. They had an ugly time. In 320 A.D., Constantine, now in charge, he had an interesting problem. He had a nation of people of all different kinds of religions. He was bugged by that, and so he sent some of the learned people, about 380 of them, over to a place called Nicea and the first Nicene council was held. The charter was given to these people by Constantine and it was, “I want you to describe God. Define God. You tell me what God is all about and that’s the way everybody will believe.” They went away for several weeks and came back and presented Constantine with a document that is known as the Nicene Creed. Brothers and Sisters, if you have not read and are familiar with the Nicene Creed, you ought to be. Read it this week. In essence it says: “God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one. They’re not really one, but they’re sort of one, because they’re kind of one, we think they ought to be one, therefore they are one.” Read it. You need to understand it. That document is the basic document now that is accepted by most of the Christian faiths in the world as a description of God. We find now, the beginnings now, the Roman Catholic church now becomes the formal church of state. Up until this time, it was just trying to survive. Now it becomes the church and this is the way people are going to believe. A period of history begins now called the Reign of the Popes. Was this a religiously tolerant time, brothers and sisters? No. The popes were not just ecclesiastical leaders. They became emperors and kings as well.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 785 A.D. 785, Empress Irene was in charge. She had another council in the same place. She sent her learned people off to Nicea. In the Second Nicene Council, the canonization of saints takes place. Idol worship enters into the Catholic Church. Understand, brothers and sisters, that you cannot read European history and Catholic history as two separate histories. They are the same. Who wrote history back then? The only ones who could read and write were primarily the clergy, and a few wealthy.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1100 A.D. In 1100 A.D., there were three popes. They broke off from each other, three different European cities. They all excommunicated each other and then went to war to prove who was the only true and living pope. I’m not here making fun of Catholic history. I’m here helping us understand. We need to understand the fact that the Apostasy was very real. The next date we need to write is 1200 A.D.<br />
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In 1200 A.D., two significant events took place. First, the advent of the printing press. Up until 1200 A.D., how many people could read? Not many. The printing press surfaces and has a major impact on the culture in Europe in the next hundred years. We’ll talk about that in a moment. The next event, the man in charge in Rome: Pope Innocent III. Pope Innocent III was known in history as The Boss Pope. He was fighting wars all the time. He was fighting on three fronts. Started to run out of money. Decided he needed a creative way of raising money for his wars. And so he initiated in the church a money-making program called the Sale of Indulgences. This was a significant event 300 years later; we’ll discover why in a moment. The Sale of Indulgences simply means you can pay to have your sins remitted. I’ve often wondered why we don’t do that. We could build lots of chapels. It even got to the point where you could prepay sins. “I’m going to Vegas for the weekend, Bishop. Here’s a thousand bucks. Cover me.” “You’re covered.”<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1300 A.D. 1300 A.D., revolution begins in Europe, not a revolution of knives and swords, but a cultural revolution. That revolution is known and we refer to it now as The Renaissance. European culture turns upsidedown. One of the reasons was the advent of the printing press. More people had more information. Questions started to be asked that never had been asked before and the culture turns upside down.<br />
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The next date we need to write is 1492. Surely, what happened in 1492. You got that right. Columbus, a product of the Renaissance, was part of a growing number that said, “You know, this is not a flat world. It’s round.” And so he conned the queen out of three boats and he finds the New World.<br />
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The next date we need to write, very few short years later, 1515 A.D. Martin Luther surfaces. 1515, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, one of the highest orders in the Catholic Church, a product of the Renaissance, he had access to many of the ancient documents. He had a major problem. His problem was the Sale of Indulgences. He said, “I don’t think that’s right. I can’t find anything in the ancient writings that the Savior said anything about the sale of indulgences.” Ultimately, he developed 95 questions that bothered him a lot. He nailed these questions to the door of the cathedral in Wuttenburg, Germany. That’s how he communicated. Took several weeks for people to wander by and see the questions. It bugged the church a lot. He was then pulled before several church courts and told, “Back off with your questions or you’ll be excommunicated.” Understand that excommunication in the 14th, 15th centuries was tantamount to death. Martin Luther did not want to destroy the Catholic Church. He loved the Catholic Church. He wanted to get back to what was being taught at the time of Christ. The next several years were not a good experience for Martin Luther. He would not back off from is questions.<br />
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Next date you need to write is 1523. In 1523, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the church and the church put out a proclamation, saying, “We will not consider it murder to kill Martin Luther.” They put out a papal hit on Martin Luther. He had to go into hiding. He was protected by a group of wealthy German princes. The German princes, quite frankly, I don’t believe were particularly interested in his theology, but they were not interested in paying tribute to Rome any more. And so they created a church. Finally they talked Martin Luther into heading that church. He didn’t want to at first, but when they started trying to kill him, he decided he would. He became the head of the Lutheran Church. Brothers and sisters, if there is a people on the planet today that have a testimony of the Apostasy, it’s the Lutheran Church. That’s why they exist. They have documented it very carefully.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1534. In 1534, King Henry VIII in England had a problem with his wife. He wanted to unload her. And so he went to the pope and said, “I want to divorce my wife.” The pope said, “You can’t do that. There is no divorce in the church.” He looked over at Germany and said, “You know, Luther’s doing all right. I think I’ll create my own thing.” And so he created the Church of England and it breaks from the Catholic Church. Was that a popular decision in England? Really wasn’t. Many wars resulted. Ugly, terrible battles as a result of that decision. He was able then to get rid of his wife. No revelation. No saying, “I talked to somebody in heaven.” But he said, “I want to get rid of my wife.” A church starts. What church in America today is the Church of England? The Episcopal Church.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1540. I’m just mentioning a couple of the major reformers. By the way, go back to 1515 – the Reformation starts. There had been some earlier reformers but the major beginning of the Reformation really goes through Martin Luther. The reformation begins. 1540. Man by the name of John Calvin in Switzerland and France starts an organization called the Huguenots. He was a disciple of Martin Luther. Didn’t agree with everything that Luther was doing, but he said, “I think he’s on the right track. Something’s wrong.” The Huguenots begin. Presbyterians in America today.<br />
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Next date is 1560. 1560 in England, John Knox. John Knox, a disciple of both Calvin and Luther, says “You know, I think they’re on the right track but they’re not totally on the right track. Think I’ll start my own thing.” And the Puritans begin.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1575. 1575, an event took place in Paris, France, called Bartholomew Day. This was not an isolated incident, but I plug this in here to give you an idea as to how the Reformation was being received in Europe. Bartholomew Day, a pogrom took place in Paris, France. The Catholics rose up and destroyed every Protestant they could find. There was a bloodbath in Paris. Bartholomew Day. The Reformation was not a popular movement.<br />
The next date you need to write is 1620, not too many years later. What happened in 1620? The Puritans come to America. Fed up now with the lack of the freedoms that they wanted, they came to America. 1620, a nation is invented. It was discovered by Columbus. It was invented by the Puritans. The United States of America has its humble beginnings. Between 1620 and 1776, a nation is born.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1776. 1776, we’d had enough. We wrote a letter to King George. It said something like this: “We’re tired of your taxes. We don’t like your troops over here. In fact, we don’t like you. Will you take them home. We’re going to be our own thing.” Now that paraphrases the Declaration of Independence a little bit, but that’s basically what it said. An ugly war began. George was not very excited about that and for the next six years, a war. The Revolution. For some, miracle. May I suggest to you, having done a military study of the Revolution, there is no way that war could have been won without the direct intervention of God. I believe that with all my heart.<br />
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1781’s the next date you need to write. The war ends.<br />
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1785 is the next date. A meeting begins in Philadelphia. They discover the Articles of Confederation are not working. We need another document. It took two more years, until 1787, to finish the Constitution. For the first time, in the incorporating papers of any nation on the planet, a guarantee of the freedom of religion was written into the constitution. 1787, it is signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1805. How many years between 1787 and 1805? Not very many. Who was born in 1805? Joseph Smith. Now, maybe – maybe – the Church can survive again on the planet. The Prophet is born in upstate New York.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1812. A significant war was fought in 1812. What was the name of that war? That’s good. The War of 1812. That’s a significant war. Why? This time, we beat the British with some definite win. We had our own navy now. The USS Constitution had been commissioned in 1797. We had a major win. They came up the Potomac River, levelled the White House, we didn’t like that very much and we won soundly this time. We threw them off and we said, “No one will ever fight a war against us again on our own land.” That was the last war fought with an external force on American soil. We had a little family trouble in 1860, but that was internal. Last war with an external force.<br />
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Next date you need to write is 1820. What happened in 1820? Joseph Smith, the boy prophet, goes into a grove of trees, wanting to know: “Something’s wrong. There are a lot of people teaching different things. What church should I join?” And the Lord and Jesus Christ appear to him and the Restoration begins.<br />
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The next date you need to write is 1830. 1830, the Church is formally established on the earth. You might be interested to know that in 1830, in Washington, DC, the patent office, the US Patent Office, was closed. You can read in the congressional record for that year, “We’ve decided to close the patent office because everything has been invented that could possibly be invented.” 1830. It’s been opened since. More progress on this planet since 1830, brothers and sisters, than in all 5,000 years past.<br />
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Now I’m going to ask you a question. Why was the gospel restored in 1820? Why didn’t the Lord appear to a young man in a grove of trees in Europe in 1512? If Martin Luther had come out of a grove of trees and said, “I just talked to God and Jesus Christ and you know that they said? We’re all messed up.” How long would he have survived? Twenty minutes, maybe? Not very long. I would suggest to you, brothers and sisters, that the reason the Lord restored the Church in 1820 is because that is the only time that it could possibly have survived on the planet. And it almost didn’t survive then. Was there religiou s freedom in America in 1830? No. Was Joseph Smith welcomed with “You talked to God and Christ? Boy, that’s exciting. Tell us what they had to say.” No, they weren’t excited about that. Ultimately, they had to leave the confines of the United States and come to a God-forsaken place called Salt Lake City to survive. Brigham Young did not say “This is the place.” He said, “This is the place?” No, that’s a joke. That’s a joke. That’s a joke. They had to come out here to survive. There is another date we need to write in your notes. The date you need to superimpose, you need to go back to 1817 and write in the birth of another person over in Europe. A man by the name of Karl Marx. You know who Karl Marx was, I trust. Is there any coincidence that the opposition raised up its leader the same time the Lord raised up His? I don’t think there was a coincidence.<br />
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I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the blessings and the guidance of the gospel. I know this church is true! The Church has been restored to the earth. The book of Mormon is a testimony that God is the same yesterday today and forever. It came forth by revelation and is a testimony that God still reveals his will to us in these Last days. It is a second Witness that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the almighty God. It is a testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true and only true church on the earth and his the Lords kingdom established in preparatory for the Lord's Second Coming. I miss yall so much and I am so grateful to be serving a mission. YALL HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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Make yourself at home.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-149711607588409212016-02-07T18:35:00.002-08:002016-02-07T18:35:15.205-08:00We Thank thee O God for a Prophet February 1, 2016<br />
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We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Feb 1 at 11:23 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Message body<br />
HEY HEY HEY Everybody!!!!<br />
So this week was awesome!!! We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Rasband, from the quorum of the twelve apostles, live twice! It was so awesome!!!! He is an awesome teacher! Our first opportunity to listen to him was Saturday. We all got to shake his hand and then Elder Blooth the area seventy addressed us. He talked about his experience when Elder Rasband was the president of the seventy and they had a conference with all 330 seventy. When he entered the auditorium and turned to Elder Blooth and said 'HEY RANDY!' He talked about how impressed that made him of him. After he spoke, Elder Zwick of the first quorum of the seventy spoke to us. We were really scared of him because he has changed a lot of stuff in the mission before hand but he gave an excellent talk. He talked on simplifying our lessons and talked how teaching is not speaking. He said sometimes we are the ones that prevent the spirit from coming in our lessons and how sometimes we need to allow silence to be in our lessons. He talked of an experience just recently when He was taking a family friend not a member through the new provo city center temple. They were in the chapel of the temple and he was about to speak about the temple but he felt she needed the silence. She then spoke of the spirit and said it is true! He also spoke of a time when his son, who is special needs and has difficulties speaking was able to accompany his brother in Thailand for the last three weeks mission. His other son as a missionary in Thailand only had one baptism. His special needs son committed 2 families and baptism and was able to witness them baptized just before he left. He talked about that it was the spirit that did the work. After Elder Rasband Addressed us and spoke how this was one of the few weeks he doesn't have an assignment for a stake conference and how President Nelson was inspired to send him to Baton Rouge Louisiana of all places in the world. He didn't know why the lord wanted him here but he knows it was of inspiration. He also spoke of the Love President Monson and said that he is the most loving man he knows. When President Monson asked where he was going for the weekend he said Baton Rouge Louisiana. President Monson said tell the missionaries that i love them. He spoke on a very simple topic. He related his talk back to Blooths and spoke on the importance of a name. He said to makes sure we know the first and last name of all who we teach. He said they will feel loved using those. He said you can also pray, fast, study for, put in the temple prayer role, with a name. It was really good. He also talked about his 2010 april general conference talk when he was assigned to watch president erying assign missionaries. He talked about how he is now authorized to do that with his call to the quorum of the twelve and what he has learned from it. He spoke of the importance of the call and how the Lord accepts our efforts. He said that willingness to serve shows our love to the savior. He also spoke of complaining of an area or companion is mocking the lord. He said not only do our presence in these areas help others but they shape ourselves as well. He spoke of an experience he had as a mission president when he sent a missionary who was having a lot of success in his area but he moved him to Connecticut in his last area. When they were giving go home testimonys the missionary mentioned how he loved his mission except that area. Elder Rasband spoke of how that hurt him. A year later another missionary was in that area when that missionary got a call from a lady who went through a tramatic experience and she went to grab the bible but ended up being a book of mormon with the previous years missionary name and number in it. She took the lessons and was later baptized. He spoke that the lord may have us be harvesters, toil the soil, be sowers. He spoke that sometimes the missionaries who didn't have the right purpose coming out may need the success and harvest where those who did are in need to toil the soil. It made me think of my experience in Algiers going to Lafayette and having success, and then coming here and having to work to get things going. I am so grateful for the plan that the lord has for me. For these experiences that the lord has needed me to have these experiences to shape me into what the lord wants. At the end he bore a powerful witness of the Savior. He said that he and the rest of the quorum of the twelve are no strangers to the voice of the Lord. It was a powerful testimony.<br />
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The next day on Sunday he spoke at english ward our primary and youth attend so we got to attend that as well. He spoke of the message of the book of mormon and spoke of the scripture in 3 Nephi 11: 14-15 how the multitude went forth one by one to feel the nail marks in his hands feet and side. He then went to 3 Nephi 17 and talked about how the Savior invited all you had infirmities to come forth and then he had the children come forth one by one. He spoke of how all have infirmities and how all 2500 came forth to be healed by the savior. He spoke of being healed by the savior for all and then he left a blessing that those in the congregation will be able to have their load lighten with the help of the savior. It was an amazing talk. We were able to introduce one of the members we visit to Elder Rasband and shake his hand again. I am grateful for the opportunity we had to listen to a Prophet, seer, and revelator.<br />
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We also had some awesome experiences On Sunday we realized that we had not made our goal in new investigators so we went out and contacted to try and make our goal to find someone to teach. We saw a huge group of hispanics that looked like they were partying and drinking. I am not going to lie, I try and avoid contacting in those groups.... As we were walking away the spirit was so strong into saying YOU CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM THEM! I soon found myself walking toward them! I started asking them if they knew about the book of mormon? One of them came up and said he was member and was baptized in Honduras! He even gave the whole Restoration lesson to his friends and about the experience of Joseph Smith. His brothers also talked to us and told us they had never been baptized into the church but their whole family had and there uncle is a bishop in Honduras. I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit to help us find these lost sheep. It was definitely an interesting lesson because the member was completely drunk! HAHA<br />
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We also got to see Omar and his wife Alli and talked about the book of mormon and how it can change their life. It was a powerful lesson. They were so receptive. We also saw a bunch of others last week who we usually see.<br />
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We also have been helping people with family history. We got to help President Ottinelli find names. Word got our about my talent. HAHA. We have a ton of appointments this week because Pres Ottinelli changed the 5th sunday lesson at the last minute to Family history and had me help out with that. HAHA! It happened again like the Westbank.<br />
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I know this Church is true. It is the only thing that can bring peace in this world, and offer salvation and exaltation to all those who believe and act on it. The Book of Mormon has the power to change to course of someones life. If any of yall who receive these emails feel there is something missing from your life, whether you are a member or not, read the Book of Mormon. It has the power to change your life. It has the power to bring you to the house of God to be worthy to receive blessings to enable us, or for those who have passed, to walk back to the presence of the Father, and to Kneel on an alter with family or in behalf of your ancestors who have passed through the veil to seal those we love to us for time and all eternity. The gospel is the same established by Jesus Christ in the meridian of time. Like the ancient times, God reveals his word again! I love yall so much!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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<br />LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-18923358765416843312016-02-07T18:32:00.003-08:002016-02-07T18:32:56.539-08:00We Thank thee O God for a Prophet Feb. 1, 2016<br />
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We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Feb 1 at 11:23 AM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Message body<br />
HEY HEY HEY Everybody!!!!<br />
So this week was awesome!!! We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Rasband, from the quorum of the twelve apostles, live twice! It was so awesome!!!! He is an awesome teacher! Our first opportunity to listen to him was Saturday. We all got to shake his hand and then Elder Blooth the area seventy addressed us. He talked about his experience when Elder Rasband was the president of the seventy and they had a conference with all 330 seventy. When he entered the auditorium and turned to Elder Blooth and said 'HEY RANDY!' He talked about how impressed that made him of him. After he spoke, Elder Zwick of the first quorum of the seventy spoke to us. We were really scared of him because he has changed a lot of stuff in the mission before hand but he gave an excellent talk. He talked on simplifying our lessons and talked how teaching is not speaking. He said sometimes we are the ones that prevent the spirit from coming in our lessons and how sometimes we need to allow silence to be in our lessons. He talked of an experience just recently when He was taking a family friend not a member through the new provo city center temple. They were in the chapel of the temple and he was about to speak about the temple but he felt she needed the silence. She then spoke of the spirit and said it is true! He also spoke of a time when his son, who is special needs and has difficulties speaking was able to accompany his brother in Thailand for the last three weeks mission. His other son as a missionary in Thailand only had one baptism. His special needs son committed 2 families and baptism and was able to witness them baptized just before he left. He talked about that it was the spirit that did the work. After Elder Rasband Addressed us and spoke how this was one of the few weeks he doesn't have an assignment for a stake conference and how President Nelson was inspired to send him to Baton Rouge Louisiana of all places in the world. He didn't know why the lord wanted him here but he knows it was of inspiration. He also spoke of the Love President Monson and said that he is the most loving man he knows. When President Monson asked where he was going for the weekend he said Baton Rouge Louisiana. President Monson said tell the missionaries that i love them. He spoke on a very simple topic. He related his talk back to Blooths and spoke on the importance of a name. He said to makes sure we know the first and last name of all who we teach. He said they will feel loved using those. He said you can also pray, fast, study for, put in the temple prayer role, with a name. It was really good. He also talked about his 2010 april general conference talk when he was assigned to watch president erying assign missionaries. He talked about how he is now authorized to do that with his call to the quorum of the twelve and what he has learned from it. He spoke of the importance of the call and how the Lord accepts our efforts. He said that willingness to serve shows our love to the savior. He also spoke of complaining of an area or companion is mocking the lord. He said not only do our presence in these areas help others but they shape ourselves as well. He spoke of an experience he had as a mission president when he sent a missionary who was having a lot of success in his area but he moved him to Connecticut in his last area. When they were giving go home testimonys the missionary mentioned how he loved his mission except that area. Elder Rasband spoke of how that hurt him. A year later another missionary was in that area when that missionary got a call from a lady who went through a tramatic experience and she went to grab the bible but ended up being a book of mormon with the previous years missionary name and number in it. She took the lessons and was later baptized. He spoke that the lord may have us be harvesters, toil the soil, be sowers. He spoke that sometimes the missionaries who didn't have the right purpose coming out may need the success and harvest where those who did are in need to toil the soil. It made me think of my experience in Algiers going to Lafayette and having success, and then coming here and having to work to get things going. I am so grateful for the plan that the lord has for me. For these experiences that the lord has needed me to have these experiences to shape me into what the lord wants. At the end he bore a powerful witness of the Savior. He said that he and the rest of the quorum of the twelve are no strangers to the voice of the Lord. It was a powerful testimony.<br />
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The next day on Sunday he spoke at english ward our primary and youth attend so we got to attend that as well. He spoke of the message of the book of mormon and spoke of the scripture in 3 Nephi 11: 14-15 how the multitude went forth one by one to feel the nail marks in his hands feet and side. He then went to 3 Nephi 17 and talked about how the Savior invited all you had infirmities to come forth and then he had the children come forth one by one. He spoke of how all have infirmities and how all 2500 came forth to be healed by the savior. He spoke of being healed by the savior for all and then he left a blessing that those in the congregation will be able to have their load lighten with the help of the savior. It was an amazing talk. We were able to introduce one of the members we visit to Elder Rasband and shake his hand again. I am grateful for the opportunity we had to listen to a Prophet, seer, and revelator.<br />
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We also had some awesome experiences On Sunday we realized that we had not made our goal in new investigators so we went out and contacted to try and make our goal to find someone to teach. We saw a huge group of hispanics that looked like they were partying and drinking. I am not going to lie, I try and avoid contacting in those groups.... As we were walking away the spirit was so strong into saying YOU CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM THEM! I soon found myself walking toward them! I started asking them if they knew about the book of mormon? One of them came up and said he was member and was baptized in Honduras! He even gave the whole Restoration lesson to his friends and about the experience of Joseph Smith. His brothers also talked to us and told us they had never been baptized into the church but their whole family had and there uncle is a bishop in Honduras. I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit to help us find these lost sheep. It was definitely an interesting lesson because the member was completely drunk! HAHA<br />
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We also got to see Omar and his wife Alli and talked about the book of mormon and how it can change their life. It was a powerful lesson. They were so receptive. We also saw a bunch of others last week who we usually see.<br />
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We also have been helping people with family history. We got to help President Ottinelli find names. Word got our about my talent. HAHA. We have a ton of appointments this week because Pres Ottinelli changed the 5th sunday lesson at the last minute to Family history and had me help out with that. HAHA! It happened again like the Westbank.<br />
<br />
I know this Church is true. It is the only thing that can bring peace in this world, and offer salvation and exaltation to all those who believe and act on it. The Book of Mormon has the power to change to course of someones life. If any of yall who receive these emails feel there is something missing from your life, whether you are a member or not, read the Book of Mormon. It has the power to change your life. It has the power to bring you to the house of God to be worthy to receive blessings to enable us, or for those who have passed, to walk back to the presence of the Father, and to Kneel on an alter with family or in behalf of your ancestors who have passed through the veil to seal those we love to us for time and all eternity. The gospel is the same established by Jesus Christ in the meridian of time. Like the ancient times, God reveals his word again! I love yall so much!<br />
Elder Richardson<br />
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<br />LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2543397042481803666.post-61625577237922526462016-02-07T18:31:00.001-08:002016-02-07T18:31:30.325-08:00O My Father Jan. 25,2016<br />
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Come, All Ye Saints of Zion<br />
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net> Jan 19 at 12:21 PM<br />
To<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Message body<br />
HEY ALL YALL!!!!<br />
Sorry Emails are a day late. The libraries were closed for MLK Day. It was a crazy last week. We were so Busy which is really good. We have seen many blessings finding less actives and part member families. We were able to find a couple of less actives you live on LSU. We were able to see Karen and Daberto, the friends of Micheal and Alejandra. Karen's mom is a member also. He was very open and wants us to come every week. We also were able to meet with Juan and Carla. We shared the Family Proclamation with them. They really liked that. They told us how many religions have been allowing gay marriages and it has confused them.<br />
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We also saw Maura and Miguel. We shared with them the Proclamation also and asked if they wanted to make it a goal to attend the temple. They said they really wanted to. We also have been visited Alfonso, a member with some needs that we have helped a little bit. We went by Omar lopez's house and he wasn't home yet but we shared with his cousins and a family friend the restoration and they really liked it.<br />
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We also had the opportunity to have a multi stake regional conference that was broadcast from Salt Lake to the South East Area. It was really good. Elder Rasband, Elder Hales, Sister Reeves, Elder Whitney spoke. A lot on what was talked about was the temple and the importance of the temple in our lives. It was really good.<br />
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It has been awesome seeing many miracles and seeing how this area used to have nothing and to where it grew in a matter of months. I have definitely been grateful for the help that the lord has given us here.<br />
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So my spiritual thought today comes from the end of the Book of Mormon in Moroni chapter 10 verses 32 through 33<br />
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32 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.<br />
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33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.<br />
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It is interesting that Moroni's final plea for us is to come unto Christ. After witnessing the evil of the Nephite nation which ultimately lead to their destruction Moroni's final plea is to Come unto Christ. Grace is what allows us to become better each day. He makes up all the difference. As we partake of this wonderful gift that came to us because of our Savior we will feel the peace and love that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we come unto Christ through repentance, charity, church and temple attendance, and studying the scriptures we will feel the love of the Savior and partake of his goodness that is offered through the atonement. One of my favorite talks on the Atonement of Jesus Christ is Bruce R. Mckonkie's The Purifying Power of Gethsemane. I invite each of yall to read it. I am so grateful for our savior and for the opportunity we have to start over. He is there to lift us from our burdens and to give us rest.<br />
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28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.<br />
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29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.<br />
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30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.<br />
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The Church is true. This is indeed Christ's church restored to the earth. He still speaks to his prophets today as he did in the old testament. Thanks all yall for all that yall do!!!<br />
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Elder Richardson<br />
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The Purifying Power of Gethsemane. Bruce R. McKonkie.<br />
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I feel, and the Spirit seems to accord, that the most important doctrine I can declare, and the most powerful testimony I can bear, is of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from Creation’s dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity. It is the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a god could perform. Through it, all of the terms and conditions of the Father’s eternal plan of salvation became operative. Through it are brought to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Through it, all men are saved from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment. And through it, all who believe and obey the glorious gospel of God, all who are true and faithful and overcome the world, all who suffer for Christ and his word, all who are chastened and scourged in the Cause of him whose we are—all shall become as their Maker and sit with him on his throne and reign with him forever in everlasting glory. In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets. True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word. Two thousand years ago, outside Jerusalem’s walls, there was a pleasant garden spot, Gethsemane by name, where Jesus and his intimate friends were wont to retire for pondering and prayer. There Jesus taught his disciples the doctrines of the kingdom, and all of them communed with Him who is the Father of us all, in whose ministry they were engaged, and on whose errand they served. This sacred spot, like Eden where Adam dwelt, like Sinai from whence Jehovah gave his laws, like Calvary where the Son of God gave his life a ransom for many, this holy ground is where the Sinless Son of the Everlasting Father took upon himself the sins of all men on condition of repentance. We do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. We know he sweat great gouts of blood from every pore as he drained the dregs of that bitter cup his Father had given him. We know he suffered, both body and spirit, more than it is possible for man to suffer, except it be unto death. We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those who believe in his holy name. We know that he lay prostrate upon the ground as the pains and agonies of an infinite burden caused him to tremble and would that he might not drink the bitter cup. We know that an angel came from the courts of glory to strengthen him in his ordeal, and we suppose it was mighty Michael, who foremost fell that mortal man might be. As near as we can judge, these infinite agonies—this suffering beyond compare —continued for some three or four hours. After this—his body then wrenched and drained of strength—he confronted Judas and the other incarnate devils, some from the very Sanhedrin itself; and he was led away with a rope around his neck, as a common criminal, to be judged by the arch-criminals who as Jews sat in Aaron’s seat and who as Romans wielded Caesar’s power. They took him to Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to Herod, and back to Pilate. He was accused, cursed, and smitten. Their foul saliva ran down his face as vicious blows further weakened his pain-engulfed body. With reeds of wrath they rained blows upon his back. Blood ran down his face as a crown of thorns pierced his trembling brow. But above it all he was scourged, scourged with forty stripes save one, scourged with a multithonged whip into whose leather strands sharp bones and cutting metals were woven. Many died from scourging alone, but he rose from the sufferings of the scourge that he might die an ignominious death upon the cruel cross of Calvary. Then he carried his own cross until he collapsed from the weight and pain and mounting agony of it all. Finally, on a hill called Calvary—again, it was outside Jerusalem’s walls—while helpless disciples looked on and felt the agonies of near death in their own bodies, the Roman soldiers laid him upon the cross. With great mallets they drove spikes of iron through his feet and hands and wrists. Truly he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Then the cross was raised that all might see and gape and curse and deride. This they did, with evil venom, for three hours from 9:00 A.M. to noon. Then the heavens grew black. Darkness covered the land for the space of three hours, as it did among the Nephites. There was a mighty storm, as though the very God of Nature was in agony. And truly he was, for while he was hanging on the cross for another three hours, from noon to 3:00 P.M., all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane recurred. And, finally, when the atoning agonies had taken their toll—when the victory had been won, when the Son of God had fulfilled the will of his Father in all things— then he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and he voluntarily gave up the ghost. As the peace and comfort of a merciful death freed him from the pains and sorrows of mortality, he entered the paradise of God. When he had made his soul an offering for sin, he was prepared to see his seed, according to the messianic word. These, consisting of all the holy prophets and faithful Saints from ages past; these, comprising all who had taken upon them his name, and who, being spiritually begotten by him, had become his sons and his daughters, even as it is with us; all these were assembled in the spirit world, there to see his face and hear his voice. After some thirty-eight or forty hours—three days as the Jews measured time— our Blessed Lord came to the Arimathaean’s tomb, where his partially embalmed body had been placed by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea. Then, in a way incomprehensible to us, he took up that body which had not yet seen corruption and arose in that glorious immortality which made him like his resurrected Father. He then received all power in heaven and on earth, obtained eternal exaltation, appeared unto Mary Magdalene and many others, and ascended into heaven, there to sit down on the right hand of God the Father Almighty and to reign forever in eternal glory. His rising from death on the third day crowned the Atonement. Again, in some way incomprehensible to us, the effects of his resurrection pass upon all men so that all shall rise from the grave. As Adam brought death, so Christ brought life; as Adam is the father of mortality, so Christ is the father of immortality. And without both, mortality and immortality, man cannot work out his salvation and ascend to those heights beyond the skies where gods and angels dwell forever in eternal glory. Now, the atonement of Christ is the most basic and fundamental doctrine of the gospel, and it is the least understood of all our revealed truths. Many of us have a superficial knowledge and rely upon the Lord and his goodness to see us through the trials and perils of life. But if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived. May I invite you to join with me in gaining a sound and sure knowledge of the Atonement. We must cast aside the philosophies of men and the wisdom of the wise and hearken to that Spirit which is given to us to guide us into all truth. We must search the scriptures, accepting them as the mind and will and voice of the Lord and the very power of God unto salvation. As we read, ponder, and pray, there will come into our minds a view of the three gardens of God—the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden of the Empty Tomb where Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. In Eden we will see all things created in a paradisiacal state—without death, without procreation, without probationary experiences. We will come to know that such a creation, now unknown to man, was the only way to provide for the Fall. We will then see Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman, step down from their state of immortal and paradisiacal glory to become the first mortal flesh on earth. Mortality, including as it does procreation and death, will enter the world. And because of transgression a probationary estate of trial and testing will begin. Then in Gethsemane we will see the Son of God ransom man from the temporal and spiritual death that came to us because of the Fall. And finally, before an empty tomb, we will come to know that Christ our Lord has burst the bands of death and stands forever triumphant over the grave. Thus, Creation is father to the Fall; and by the Fall came mortality and death; and by Christ came immortality and eternal life. If there had been no fall of Adam, by which cometh death, there could have been no atonement of Christ, by which cometh life. And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way. God grant that all of us may walk in the light as God our Father is in the light so that, according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.<br />
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LouisianaMissionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16486530530101586438noreply@blogger.com0