Oct. 15, 2018

No pictures this week, just a few emails.  Also Elder Trezise had given a talk in church.  I am going to post that first. 

Here is his talk:


Good morning brothers and sisters. I am so grateful to be here today. Some of you may have already met me, but for those who haven't; my name is Elder Trezise. I am from Chandler, Arizona, which is by the way is much hotter than this. I love this weather. And I have been out on my mission for about 2 and a half weeks. This is my first area, and I love it, and I love each of you.

Today I am going to be talking to you all about a subject that I'm sure each of us, especially me, can improve on. Patience. Being patient isn't always easy. Well, that's an understatement. Being patient sometimes seems impossible. I grew up in a home with 3 brothers, and parents who both work. As you can imagine, our house was chaotic basically 24/7. There were fights, there was taunting, and arguments. There were all sorts of stressful situations.

And it was very difficult for me to find patience. I would lose my patience extremely often. But I can look back and see how I could have done better, and how I could've been more patient. I could've been more patient when my brother turned off my video game, or broke one of my things. I could've been more patient when my brother woke me up in the middle of the night because he couldn't find his favorite toy. It's funny how easy it is to be impatient for small things like that. In a talk by Robert D. Hales in the October conference of 2011, he said;
"What, then, does it mean to wait upon the Lord? In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end.
To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience.”

To have patience we must also have faith. Faith is, in basic terms, hoping for things which are not seen. Like Elder Hales said, in the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, anticipate, and trust the Lord. We must have faith in Heavenly Father, and His son Jesus Christ. We must trust that God has blessing in store for those who are faithful and patient.

I have a personal experience about patience, and the blessing it can bring. This subject is very personal to me, and it is overall, the experience that built my testimony up to what it is now. My uncle passed away my freshman year of high school. It was very difficult for me to understand why he was taken off the Earth. I remember not really having a strong testimony my freshman year, and I remember going to bed that night, and praying sincerely to God; maybe for the first time in my life. I received no answer, I received no feeling of peace. I received nothing.

This hurt me, and pushed me further from the Church. Despite the fact that I still struggled with this, I was able to rebuild a strong testimony. I began to grow closer to my Savior, and my Heavenly Father. But that question still sat in the back of my mind. I understood Gospel principles around Eternal families, but I wasn't sure I would ever see my uncle again. Right after my senior year of high school, I went through the Temple for my uncle. While I was sitting in the Celestial room of the Snowflake Temple, I received my answer. As I sat there, my uncle's name in my hand, I received the answer I had waited so long for. It took over 3 years, but I could feel the overwhelming peace and comfort from the Spirit. I got the DISTINCT impression that my uncle was okay, and that my Heavenly Father was taking care of him now.

I did not have that patience, that trust, and even that faith that my uncle was okay. And I struggled so, so hard with it. If only I could have trusted the Lord, if only I could have been faithful. If only I had been patient, knowing that eventually, I would receive my answer. Imagine how much easier it would be to go through that trial with faith. I deeply regret my impatience, and my lack of faith. One of my favorite scriptures is Ether, chapter 12, verse 6. It states,
"I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
My first time reading this I got a few things out of it. I could better understand faith, and I knew that we must have faith through our trials. Now, when I read it, I can see an underlying message in the phrase, 'after the trial of your faith.' From understanding Elder Hales definition of waiting, we can see it's synonymous to faith. Now, when I read it, I can see it also means that we receive no witness until after the trial of our patience. We must not only have that faith, but we must also be patient through our trials. We cannot give up, even when we don't understand something. Especially when we don't understand something. Cling to what you do understand, and do know. It'll help you realize that this trial in your life is there for a reason.

We must understand the principle of, "Not in our time, but in the Lord's time." He knows what He is doing. He knows what we need to go through to either make or break us. And too often, it breaks us because we simply cannot wait out the trial. While in the midst of trials we often think, "This will never end! I will be miserable forever." This is not true. That is the Adversary, influencing your mind to try to get you to give up. But if we overcome those thoughts, and have patience through our tribulations, then we will be blessed and strengthened. Our testimonies will grow, and we will come to see the Lord's love in our lives.

But this does not mean that because we made it through that trial, everything will be fine for the rest of our lives. No. We will go through more, we will suffer more, and we will stumble more. But, we will know, like the Lord said to Joseph Smith,
"These things shall give you experience, and be for your good."
As we remain faithful and patient we will understand that everything happens to strengthen us and give us experience.

The point of our life on Earth is to grow, and learn for ourselves. How can we grow if we never go through anything that cuts us down first. Let me give a small and simple example. Lets say that there is a wealthy father, with a young son. The son asks for something that is popular, like the newest video game, or something. The father gives it too him, without any objection. The years go on, the boy grows older and asks for new shoes. The father, again gives it to him. The boy gets even older and asks for a car. Again, the father gives him what he wants. This isn't necessarily a wrong approach is it? The father loves his son and wants him to be happy. But, now the son goes off to college to live on his own. How much would you imagine he has grown? What experience does he have? The answer is very little to no experience. He gets out in the real world, and doesn't understand how to work for what he wants, he doesn't understand why everything isn't handed to him on a silver platter. Our Heavenly Father loves us more than anything, and wants us to return to live with Him more than anything. But if we faced nothing difficult in this life, then what did we gain? Heavenly Father knows that the only way for us to grow is to go through difficult things. And He knows that we can make it through those difficult times if we just have patience. He will help us through it. He IS helping us through it, even if we can't see it. Just be patient.

Imagine the patience that God has for all of us. We ALL stumble and fall and make mistakes. Still, God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, and gave us the Atonement, so we could repent. How frustrating must it be for God to watch his children make mistake after mistake. 3rd Nephi chapter 27, verse 19 teaches that "no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God." Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, and desires for us to live with Him again. So how painful must it be for Him to watch us make mistakes. But, if we are patient and faithful, and repent of those sins, we can be cleansed again. Mosiah chapter 4, verse 6 reads;
"I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body"
Heavenly Father has more patience than any of us can ever imagine, to watch us mess up, but patiently love us, and await the day that we turn to Him again. And to return to Him, to receive salvation, we must be patient, diligent, and faithful.

In the most recent General Conference, Elder M. Joseph Brough gave a talk entitled, "Lift Up Your Head and Rejoice." Late into the talk he tells a story about his 14 year old daughter, and how she dreamed of playing High School basketball like her sister. But, he was called to be a mission president in Guatemala. There were no sports in her new school, she did not recognize the language, and couldn't go outside alone due to security reasons. They lived on the 14th floor of a building with high security, and she had none of her friends from back home with her. He talks about her struggle when he says,
" We listened to her cry herself to sleep every night for months. This broke our hearts! We finally decided we would send her home to her grandmother for high school.
When my wife entered our daughter’s room to tell her our decision, she saw our daughter kneeling in prayer with the Book of Mormon open on the bed. The Spirit whispered to my wife, “She will be OK,” and my wife quietly left the room."
He goes on to say that his daughter endured those 3 difficult years faithfully and patiently. Brothers and sisters, it is easy for us to focus on the negative things going on in our lives. It's easy to see the bad. But imagine how much better it must have been for her, as she faithfully prayed and studied the scriptures. As she patiently awaited her trial to be finished. We need to follow this young woman's example. She was going through a major change in her life, and was really struggling with it. Even though she didn't see it immediately, she did realize that Heavenly Father can help us through our trials if we are patient and faithful. We MUST be able to see that too. Heavenly Father can help us through anything we are going through, no matter how hard, as long as we are patient and faithful.

Brothers and Sisters, I have a firm testimony that being patient, and developing patience will help us through our trials. It will guide us through the darkest corners of our lives. I know that as we exercise patience, we will grow closer to God, and closer to our Savior. We will be able to better feel God's love and comfort in our lives, and we will find joy in everything we do. I hope that each of us are able to develop more patience in our lives, and I testify that as we do, we will feel peace and joy. And I say these things, in the name of our Savior and Redeemer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Amazing talk that brought us so much strength.  He didn't email me until later this day, so I might have sent him a few emails asking is he was ok :).  Here is his email:

 I'm fine, sorry. It's been busy today. So, Friday night and all day Saturday, because my companion is a zone leader, he had to go on exchanges with one of the Assistant Presidents, and I would go on exchanges with the other AP. Or so I thought. Turns out, I would go on exchanges with an Elder who has been out less than 4 months, and I would be LEADING my area. After only 2 weeks in the field. Yeah. But wait, it gets better. Elder Nelson, (my companion) forgot to give me the SIM card that night. So, I had to find my way back to my area, with no directions, at 9:50 at night. Oh yeah, and if your car is on past 10:15, they send an email to Salt Lake telling them. So Elder Thorne and I are freaking out, trying to find our way to my place, when he decides to say a prayer. No joke, less than a minute after he said the prayer, I knew where we were. I went as high as the speed limit let me go, because our cars have a thing that tells us to "CHECK YOUR SPEED" whenever we go 7 miles per hour above the speed limit. And, I kid you not, we parked the car at 10:13. It was super stressful. Elder Nelson came and put the SIM card in my phone the next morning. You'd think that'd be the end of it right? WRONG. The SIM card wasn't working, so we put it in Elder Thorne's phone. Still not working. So here I am, 2 weeks out, leading the area with no SIM card, no way to contact anyone or find directions for places. I had to borrow members phones whenever I could. But it actually turned out to be an okay day. We filled up our schedule, and met a lot of new people. I handed out a Book of Mormon, and we had a lot of success. It was super stressful though. We just got a new SIM card today, and everything is okay now. But yeah. Stressful weekend. 

Later Elder Trezise sent me another email:
 

That hike sounds like a lot of fun. I miss you guys a lot, and I miss my little puppy. Thank you so much for your support and love. I love my mission so much already. One of my MTC teachers told me the story of him seeing his family again after his mission, and he said, "I saw them in the airport and started crying. I went up to my mom, looked her in the eyes, and said, "Mom. I love you, but you are the last person I want to see right now. I just want to go back out there and serve the Lord." He talked about how if we let it, the mission will shape our lives. There is an MTC talk by Elder Holland that talks about missionary work, and sadly, you can't see MTC talks outside of the MTC, but it is awesome. Elder Nelson has it on his flashdrive somehow, and he doesn't know how he got it, but I love listening to it before I go to bed at night. There is one part where he is talking about the disciples after Christ dies. He talks about how they're new converts, and don't know what to do. So they go fishing again. And Christ comes. He says so many funny things, and awesome things, but the main point of it is when Christ asks Peter if he loves Him more than the fish, and his boat, and his oars. Peter says yes. Again Christ asks. Again Peter says yes. Then Elder Holland says something along the lines of, "Then I imagine the Savior took a long deep breath, and looked Peter in the eyes and said again, "Peter... Do you love me more than these fish, and more than your oars, and more than your old boat?" And right now, 3 is a VERY sensitive number for Peter. So Peter, a little confused and hurt says yes again., And the Lord probably said something along the lines of, "Then FEED MY SHEEP. I asked you to give up this all once Peter, and I'm asking you again, and I don't want to have to ask you a third time! You can't go back to boats, you can't go back to fishing, you can't go back to life as you knew it! When I asked you to follow me, I meant FOREVER. When I asked you to be my disciple, I meant FOREVER. When I asked you to throw this all away and preach My Gospel, I meant FOREVER. When I said to endure to the end, I meant that it's not over till it's over! So FEED MY SHEEP." And that's when Peter became the Peter we know him as. That's when people wold follow him on the streets in the hope that Peter's SHADOW would fall upon them! That's when he became a true disciple of the Lord."

I absolutely love Elder Holland. He has taught me so much about being a missionary. I may post a video about missionary work on Facebook soon, but right now we're doing a Facebook fast. But it has part of a talk by Elder Holland that I think he gave at the MTC, and it brought me to tears the first time I saw it. I can't send it in email for some reason, but I hope I get permission to post it. Anyway, I have to go, I love you, and I know that we are ALL called to preach His Gospel. To find people who need this joy and this comfort. I hope to hear from you soon.

-Elder Trezise