Christmas LIT My World

The Best Two Years---featuring Elder Gardanier

My childhood dream became a reality this past week. The other ward that goes to our same building had a little theater and after many hard tryouts and rehearsals, I was chosen to play Elder Cahoon from the best two years. I wanna say they chose me because of my acting skills but I think it was for my "greengoness." 

Macumba Matata...Oldtown road Brasil remix

What a strange but good week haha. Let me tell ya.

Breaking Down Barriers

Missiontime Issofast

Since I got a little behind, here are three weeks of letters. Daniel lost his camera so there won't be pictures for a bit.

From trained to TRAINING

Start your prayers...GO!!

Refiners Fire Literally

Slapping Lipstick on an Elder

"Isn't this the truth we've heard?"

My people.

     What a blessing this past week was to listen to conference while being a missionary. I´ll tell you I loved 2/4 sessions...because those were the English ones haha. I love all of conference but still humbled to know I have a lot to improve on in my Portuguese! 

3 cakes, 10 punds, 2 baptisms

ITS AMERICA.

4.5 Liters of Acai

    

VL no longer

President Nelson in Brazil

Not 1. Not 2. BUT 103

Major learning this week.

     Two stories here that just show why I´m a believer. No. KNOWER that God is a God of Miracles. Honestly I was just in tears thinking about how good our Heavenly Father is. Even though it´s hard. It´s soooo good. 

I'm lovin' it

FIRST WEEK IN THE FIELD

Arrival Letter from President Massagardi

Call me Elder Thicccccc

Beans: 1 Missionaries: 0

BEST WEEK SO FAR. It started with this rather disturbing story...not for the weak stomach.

Curls get referrals

It´s true. This was the week my district decided the bread, beans, and vending machines were taking a toll and we commenced our workouts of 4 min planks every night with pull up circuits and leg days and just lots of fun. It’s probably good because this week was some better eatinn´for me haha....

And in the morning...we're having WAFFLES!

Hahah, jk. No waffles here in the ctm. Just Paninis for breakfast EVERY SINGLE MORNING. But sometimes I like to imagine a waffle and then it tastes good haha.

Food that I’ve missed this week...cinnamon rolls. yum

BEANS BEANS THE MAGICAL FRUIT...

Familia e amigos!

     What a week it has been. Let me tell ya flights are much longer when all you can do is look at the chair in front of you. But, it’s a good time. Some things about the CTM here in Sao Paulo Brasil,

Farewell Talk

Becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ

    I feel like I’ve had a monopoly on the piano for musical numbers the past year. For those of you peeking ahead in the program, I was asked to play once more today and then I will officially release myself from ward musical number specialist and I nominate Morgan Ashton to be the new musical number because it’s one of the few callings he doesn’t have.  

     But I’m so excited to leave on Tuesday to Vitoria Brazil! I know God has been preparing the people to hear his message and I’m ready to share how they can begin their path of discipleship. Recently, I’ve been thinking if there is a formula for becoming the best disciple of Christ? I’m sure it consists of daily scripture study, personal prayers, temple attendance, growing our talents and spiritual gifts, walking constantly by faith, and never once missing a week of Come Follow Me. While I’m personally trying to heed the counsel given by Christ to “be ye therefore perfect” I begin to feel frustrated as it seems I can never accomplish this impossible goal. 

-With study, I know now that perfection doesn’t come within a day, in fact, it takes the road of discipleship to fully appreciate the gift Christ has given us to one day be made perfect in him. Here are some steps I’ve discovered to travel this narrow path...

Real Intent

   -Moroni closed the Book of Mormon pleading that we need to “ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you…” I believe it’s in the sincerity of our realness to Christ that the path of discipleship can begin. As we truly pour out the desires of our hearts than Christ can take over and orchestrate our lives to be exactly how He wants them to be. He can turn just a seed of desire into a garden of fruit and faithful discipleship.

   -To create a sincere desire and become real in this gospel our motivations need to be aligned with Christ’s. As we observe Laman and Lemuel we realize they aren’t much different than us. They obeyed the commands of their father--followed with murmuring however. They also saw an angel but quickly disregarded its effect as they sought to kill Nephi their brother. Similarly, today we see youth going to church but complaining because of their boring Sunday school teacher. We also see them attending seminary and institute but only using that time to scroll through Instagram. And as adults, we can easily take a 20 minute nap as the sacrament is being administered.

   -In these examples we see the actions being put in but the lack of desire and motivation extinguishes the power that can puncture the heart “thus becom[ing a] new creature.” Elder Uchtdorf illustrated this principle saying,  “It is not enough merely to speak of Jesus Christ or proclaim that we are His disciples. It is not enough to surround ourselves with symbols of our religion. Discipleship is not a spectator sport.”

   -Bednar “Testimony is knowing the gospel is true, conversion is being true to the gospel.” I believe everyone of us has a testimony that this gospel is perfect, in fact Satan has a testimony that this church is true but is not converted to it. Are you converted to this gospel or do you just have a testimony? I exhort us all to one day be completely converted to the Gospel of Chist.

   -The number one desire for becoming a disciple of Christ should be through His pure love which is Charity.

   -Paul explained that “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”

   -Additionally, as we grow this particle of desire and real intent we can then activate our faith through receiving covenants and ordinances.

Covenants and Ordinances

   -What a blessing it is to have symbols, tolkiens, and signs to show our discipleship in Christ. Elder Holland mentioned how one of the most important ways we can show our discipleship is partaking of the sacrament weekly.

   -It’s through the daily usage of keeping covenants and participating in ordinances that our faith is strengthened allowing Christ to sanctify, purify, and transform us as his sheep.

   -Recently, I received the Melchizedek priesthood which has been a major blessing and stepping stone in my path to come unto Christ. I quickly discovered that is through exercising the authority of the priesthood that priesthood power is strengthened. With this knowledge in mind, I pleaded with God to allow and give opportunities for me to grow my priesthood power.

   prayers were answered as I was able to go on Origination, these past two weeks, which is a church history tour that visits most of the historic church sites from Martin’s Cove to The Sacred Grove in New York. While on this trip a girl confronted my friend saying her stomach ulcers--which she’s previously had surgeries on to get removed--have become irritated with the long bus rides and increased stress from the trip. She did well to mask her pain but eventually it almost became unbearable that she felt like she was going to pass out. 

-Not wanting to make a scene, she discreetly asked for a priesthood blessing from a group of 5 boys who had received the Melchizedek priesthood prior to the trip. When the tour bus emptied out at a rest stop, we stayed on the bus and gathered around this girl to give her a priesthood blessing. Many of us were nervous because none of us had given a blessing before and were not sure how to even begin. However, through the faith of this girl and the desire to use our priesthood, we were able to give her a blessing of healing. After the blessing she stood with tear filled eyes and thanked each one of us for our worthiness and willingness to exercise the authority of the priesthood. Fast Forward to the end of the trip, I was able to relive this experience with her as we discussed how she was feeling and doing. She exclaimed how almost immediately after the blessing, her pain went away and never resurfaced for the remained of the 2 week trip.

   -I know through this experience I was able to increase my discipleship through receiving the priesthood and blessing the lives of God’s children. 

   -Along with receiving the Priesthood, we all enter the gates of true discipleship through baptism. For “Except a man be aborn of bwater and of the cSpirit, he cannot denter into the kingdom of God.”

   -Continuing this path, we proceed to come unto christ through Temple endowment, Sealing, and Enduring to the End. As a side note, this past week I went through the Temple for the first time and my witness of this gospel is even more strengthened. Taking out my endowment has made me feel more complete and full of purpose. I pray that everyone can find themselves attending the temple regularly and striving to be with their families in the Celestial room one day.  

-It’s through these promises, we make as covenants and renewed through ordinances, that our personal conversion grows and faith increases. 

-In turn, Once we’ve gained a growing desire and have begun to develop faithful promoting habits, we discover what is called…

Divine Discontent

   Michelle D. Craig explained this principle stating, “Each of us, if we are honest, feels a gap between where and who we are, and where and who we want to become. We yearn for greater personal capacity. We have these feelings because we are daughters and sons of God, born with the Light of Christ yet living in a fallen world. These feelings are God given and create an urgency to act.

The more we fill our hearts and minds with the message of the risen Christ, the greater our desire is to follow Him and live His teachings.”

   -Looking back through the history of the church, we recognize divine discontent in Joseph Smith as he felt unsure of which church to join sequentially leading him to ask of God and eventually begin the last dispensation. Nephi also illustrates this principle, in what can be referred to as the Psalm of Nephi, as he pleads, “O Lord, wilt thou aredeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of bsin?”

   -It’s through divine discontent that urged Nephi as a good man to become a great disciple. It’s what allowed the Sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger to progress from a fallen state into a position of redemption through Christ’s grace. And it’s what allowed me to progress from a passive worshiper to taking responsibility in my journey of discipleship. 

   -I’d like to share a person parable of what the path of discipleship can look like…

   -A year ago I went skiing with my family at Brighton. It was one of the best ski days: knee high powder, no wind, and just a solid time on the slopes. We were going down a run that had a lot of hidden terrain and cliffs. Looking back at it now, I’d say perfect opportunity for disaster. However, as we were cruising down the mountain, my brother led the way and he was really just feeling it. I don’t think he used pizza wedge the whole time, never made a wrong move.

-Eventually, I lost sight of him and was left to find my own way down the mountain and try to follow what I thought were his narrow tracks. As I was skiing, I saw the tracks go down what I thought was a bump so I proceeded to follow them, and to my surprise, it was much more than a bump..in fact, a cliff. Being unprepared for anytype of drop, my mind went into slow-mo and the worse case scenarios started playing out in my head. What if I injured myself being left there in the night needing to live off the land until help came. Or maybe even left there to die never being able to taste of my mom Laura’s famous fruit tarts ever again? Or worse yet, what if my family was following my tracks and were headed for the same jaw-dropping experience. Literally. After skiing off of what felt like a 200 foot cliff falling for about 45 seconds (yes, I timed that), I hit the ground popping off both my skis, losing both my poles, and letting out the biggest grunt. Luckily, after acting dead for a moment then realizing I was okay by checking each intact and healthy limb, I laughed a little then jumped up and stumbled to the top of the cliff to make sure my family did not follow me down the same path. 

   -As I reminisced about this experience in my journal, that night, I realized this was more than a ski trip. Infact, this was a parable relating my journey here on earth. Here I was on this ski run, enjoying the day and not sure what was lying ahead. I did my best to follow my brother who can be compared to our brother Jesus Christ. However, quickly we can become lost and left to follow what we think is the best way to reach the end goal. We are then left to rely on our own strength, some rough terrain and maybe even high cliffs which consequently lead us to rock bottom. -However alone we may feel in this experience to follow in Christ’s tracks, we are all in the same boat. There’s not one perfect way to walk in discipleship, there also isn’t any mom who tells us every perfect step to take (although my mom gets pretty close), and there especially isn't a wikihow page giving a detailed outline of the journey to discipleship. The path of discipleship is walked by faith with the one who walked it completely and utterly alone, our Savior Jesus Christ.  

These prophetic calls to action, coupled with our innate sense that we can do and be more,

Divine discontent comes when we compare “what we are [to] what we have the power to become.”

The more we are filled with the Spirit of God, the more we extend ourselves to others. We become peacemakers in our homes and families, we help our fellowmen everywhere, and we reach out in merciful acts of kindness, forgiveness, grace, and long-suffering patience.

These are the first steps along the true way of life and fulfillment. This is the peaceable way of the follower of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, it is not a quick fix or an overnight cure.

We don’t acquire eternal life in a sprint—this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles. Day after day we need to make them part of our normal life.

Discipleship is a journey. We need the refining lessons of the journey to craft our character and purify our hearts. By patiently walking in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our faith and our willingness to accept God’s will rather than ours.

We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, “spectator discipleship” is a preferred if not a primary way of worshipping.

Ours is not a secondhand religion. We cannot receive the blessings of the gospel merely by observing the good that others do. We need to get off the sidelines and practice what we preach.