Joshua Day's Mission

2010-06-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

Bueno,
I just got the recipes on thursday thank you. Yes that was for the shirt and a couple other little things. The backpack got stolen when I got robbed. I didn´t want to tell you but yeah... No The backpack is fine ha ha. I use it for district meetings and sundays when I have to carry a lot. Other wise I use something small cause I don´t like to carry much. For the package the same kinda stuff. Seasoning packets. a lot of them. Other than that I can´t really think of anything. What did the other lifeguards say? My new companion is pretty cool. He is really chill and a really good teacher. Its nice cause he knows spanish perfectly and english perfectly.

In all honesty this week was pretty boring. I was spending most of the time showing my comp the area and we did a lot of knocking doors. We did set a goal of five baptisms this transfer though. We had a branch activity on Friday and I made delicious tacos that everyone loved. Thank you mom for teaching me how to cook. It is such a huge blessing. This week I have been the most tired I have ever been in my entire life. The work is good and I know it is true. It is so cool to be able to say I am a mission of God. I made a cake for the kids of one of our converts for his baptism cause his mom didn´t know how. Fun moment of the week was I taught a bunch of super drunk guys that were in love with my hair. It was the most hilarious time I have ever spent in anyones house. This last week was really difficult but I know where there are diffuculties there are blessings right around the corner. So things will get better. Today I played soccer and went to walmart. It was a good day. I then made the most delicous chicken rice and potatoes. My pension loves me cause I can make super good food. That is about all for this week. I love you all.

Elder Day

2010-06-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

2010-05-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Email 5-3-2010

hey So I got the two packages with everything. Thank you very much. In the next one you send could you put root beer extract and the recipe for root beer. The other package was from Babe! She is so awesome. Have you gotten my letter I sent home yet? I have some stuff to send home soon. Tell Elijah im sorry about the job its probably just because of the Ireland thing. he will get it next year. Tell him congrats and good luck for track. Also tell Rachel congrats( she made the school talent show). Why cant you call the cell phone back? that basically is their landline here. One of the others is american and the other is from Peru. This is his last transfer. He actually pretty much perfectly speaks and understands English, but I only speak spanish to him and I have a new goal of only spanish all day long. So far it is going good. My spanish is doing really good. I understand almost everything and can speak just find. I no longer have to translate back and forth.

We could call the cell phone but the per minute cost is more to a cell then land line if we were to call you back. Your calling card is the cheaper of the two. I already have the 2nd two packages all done and ready to take to the post office so your root beer will have to wait. What did babe send you?Mom

By the way I will be calling sometime between 2 and 5 your time

Ok now for the week. This week for my grand feats in the kitchen I made delicious bisquits and gravy and french toast sticks. Yeah pretty awesome I know. We also had another baptism on Satuday. It went super good even though I had to teach the restauracion all by myself. It will be a couple weeks till we can baptize someone else because they have to come to church first. We made some wicked awesome spears out of bamboo and knives but I´m not sure what we are going to do with them haha. Just hang them up in the apartment for decoration and hand them down to other missionaries. We white stormed another area this week. Thats when all the missionaries from the zone go to one area for part of the day. While there I sacked 6 fechas and me and the comp I was with won the most fechas competition. Wednesday I should get an awesome blanket that a member is making for me. Its of the Argentine flag! I have started a running program with Elder Muñiz to try to stay in shape better. This once a week activity thing doesn´t work for me ha ha. Here they have a holiday the first of may called dia del trabajador. Its basically were everybody get drunk for an entire weekend. It was really not to great for teaching. We had a huge branch asado at Olga´s house saturday. It was super good and super crazy ha ha. This week I have felt more tired than I ever have in my life. Today we went and played some weird version of tenis called padel then went to Burger King but I didn´t get anything because it was like 50 pesos or 20 bucks for a full meal. I just cooked something at home. I only went cause my comp begged me to. Other than that not much is new. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Love, Elder Day
Babe sent me some candy and a globe that had an x over colorado that says I am here and an x over Argentina that says you are here. Oh and a letter. Ok I´ll have to use the card then

Anything else you need to tell me. My boss says I can go home. I wanted to talk to you while you are still on if we need to.Love Mom

I cant think of anything. Have you gotten the letter I sent home or the box with my ties in it?

The box when you left the MTC? I got that box I put your ties and book in your containers. We haven’t received a handwritten letter. At least not this last week.

ok good. I sent a letter through correo argentina that was hand written like three or four weeks ago so you should get it soon.

Well then I will sign off and count the hours until Sunday!!!!! I love you! and have a great week and will be waiting by the PHONE!!!! on SundayLove Mom

ok then. Bye love you. Only a few more days. Make sure everyone is there. I can talk on speaker phone or whatever. I do want to talk to dad in spanish though.

love
Elder Day

April 5, 2010

2010-04-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Josh on railroad tracks....Not a good Idea! They had to out run a train a few weeks back..Glad he ran long distance in High School!Josh and his Companion (Trainer)

Wow busy as always ha ha. I definately missed that great easter meal. all i got was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Thanks for your support as always. ok about the week

Tuesday was my comps 21st birthday! we sang him happy birthday and that was about all he got ha ha. Then we went and did service. We broke down a whole wall and prepared it to be re-built. Tuesday night I had to go to Floresta with our zone leader for divisiones. I worked all of wednesday there and thursday morning until i was runited with my companion. I learned a lot and had my first day of knocking doors all day long and not getting into a single one. I have to admit it was difficult but it made me much more happy to be working in the area that i am. We have this one part member family that the rest want to be baptized so we are working with them to set up a date. By the way i have a walmart here that i can go to like once or twice a month. Its not as good as in america but it still has lots of nice things. Its the only one in the mission. But anyways we made a visit to there this week. We taught our investigator Jorge the last lesson he needeed before his baptisimal interview and he told us of how his whole life he has felt God has been preparing him to receive this gospel and follow in the way of Christ. He is just one of those super prepared people. On sunday he went to conference and had his interview. We are going to baptize him and Olga this saturday. Jorge asked me if I would baptize him. I feel so honored. I cant wait till saturday. I still dont know if me or my comp are gonna baptize Olga. Saturday all of the elders from my apartment so four of us packed up and went to floresta for the weekend. We watched all the sessions of conference there and worked in that area in between sessions. I am so glad we have a prophet to listen to and guide us in the way of the Lord. Sunday was good. Sad because I couldn´t enjoy a delicious meal with my family for Easter but good cause I was at conference. Today we went as two whole zones so like 50 elders to Tafí del Valle. Its this little town way up in the Andes and jungle that you can buy all sorts of recuerdos. Don´t worry eventually you guys will all get something cool from me. but the town was super pretty and i got to buy a couple things. We got back and had an appointment and yeah. But this week has been pretty good. Super eventfull i can´t even remember everything but really good. Oh i made an asado and cooked all this meat here and it turned out really good. Yeah I know im a master cook ha ha. Thats about it for this week. love you all.

Elder Day

2010-03-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Elder Day with the Mission President and his wife:
First Email home from the mission field:

Our last fireside we heard bishop edgley the presiding bishop he talked about working hard and smart and having faith and we would be fine. The last few days of MTC time were hard to pull myself together but a majority of the time I was able to. It was just super crazy. We hosted...again on wednesday and that was definately not as fun for the third time. I looked for Evan but couldn´t find him for the whole day. I eventually found him on friday I think. He was having a great time as far as I know when I left. There was never a time I could take a picture with him so that was sad but oh well. Elder Wells had a call back at the Rc that went really well with a lady named Laura. She is super accepting to the gospel and hopefully will be converted. It was awesome. Stanfield gave us this crazy lesson that was super packed with info on how to find people it was amazing. I tried to write it all down but it was hard to keep track of everything he was saying. He is such an awesome teacher I love all i learned from him. In our last TRC we had this guy that just wanted to talk forever and eventually I just started cutting him off so we could teach him. It was a good learning experience but hard to get to teach. On a sad note Elder Wells didn´t get his visa so he will have to wait a while before he can come to Argentina. Hopefully he will get it soon. It was reallyhard and sad to say goodbye to my great teachers and friends. I will definately miss them all but hopefully we can all keep in contact. Our departure devotional was good about having an eternal prospective and by having this we will make and keep better goals in our lives. On travel day I woke up at 3:45 in the morning to make sure I had everything and get down to the travel office by five. travel was long. It was an adventure to get through security both in salt lake and miami. We had to go to dallas then miami then Buenos Aires then Salta. Total travel time of 36 hours. the flight from miami to Buenos Aires was really long and really hot. I couldn´t sleep more than about three hours. However the sunrises here are super pretty. When we got to Buenos Aires and had to go through international security no one else in my group really spoke spanish so I had to translate. That was interesting because I don´t know that much spanish either by far. when we got through we found out one of the elders was missing one of his bags so that was sad. It has to get sent to him. It was super humid out like arizona during the monsoon season. We eventually got on a bus that drove us around for a while, dropped some elders off at a hotel and took the rest of us over to a different airport to fly to Salta. That flight was about two hours and all went well there. we met the president, took all our stuff to his houe, then went to the mission office for an orientation and interviews. We had to go to the little police station that was like super ghetto to tell them we were new and there to stay for a while. After everything was done we had pizza and went back to the presidents house to sleep. When we woke up we had to go to this MVD like place to give them our fingerprints and stuff. I had no idea what was going on so I can´t tell you much more than that. After that we had empanadas at the presidents house that were delicious and met our trainers. My companion/trainer or as we call them here my papi is Elder Broderick. He is from Utah and has just under a year on his mission. My area is Tafí Viejo in Tucuman. Its like a little suburb on the outside of Tucuman. It is split between 4 missionaries and we each have half. It took 6 hours to get there from Salta so Its pretty far away. We are on the ciesta schedule so we wake up at 7 got to work at 8:30 come back home at 1 for lunch then three hours of study then go back out at 5:30 till 9:30 then its bed time at 11. The first few days we had some appontments but we ended up clapping a lot of doors and contacting. Right now we have a huge lack of investigators so It´s hard. hopefully it will start getting better soon as we make more contacts. We have found a few that look like they could be some good investigators. A lady and her daughter seemed pretty interested. We taught them the first lesson and they had a lot of the same beliefs but didn´t go to a church. oh people here are really super bad about keeping appointments. And always whenever I walk down the street girls whistle at me or hiss or something Its weird. We have a pretty awesome family in our small branch of about twenty people. Oh yeah looks like I´m gonna be playin piano for the next three months at least cause thats usually at least how long you stay in one place. Anyways they are familia Ledezmo. The kid thats about 25 is the branch president and he is cool then the girl Matilda is 18 and is always sharing the gospel with her friends. She is one of the few that has been born into a family married in the temple. They are super nice though and feed us every sunday for lunch. This sunday we had asado or argentine bbq. It was super good. the only other lunch we have is on wednesday. my living conditions...mom you might not want to read this. We live in some old school apartment that everything is dirty and broken besides the toilet. As all of us are Eagle Scouts we make it work but it definately isn´t a nice place. There are crickets everywhere and holes in the walls (which is why you don´t have to worry about my gas power in the apartment mom ha ha). But yeah milk comes in bags here the sugar tastes different. Everything is just different. I like it though its fun and new and if I can live here for two years I can live anywhere. My companion and the people I live with are great. I will send you some pictures next time but yeah all is well and I am having the time of my life. Oh they have bidettes here...great invention everyone needs one. anyways thats about it for now.

Love you all!
Elder Joshua Day

2010-03-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am doing good. Today has been all over the place trying to get stuff ready to go.
flight plan: for Monday March 8th 2010
LV: salt lake 8:20am
AR: dallas 12pm
LV: dallas 2:15pm
AR: miami 5:50pm
LV: miami 9pm
AR: buenos aires 8 am

So I assume I get there on their time zone so I don't know what time it will be in AZ when i have these layovers but I will for sure call in the morning before my first flight and we can figure it out.I am sorry to say Elder Johnson has been delayed from leaving to Argentina. He has to stay in the MTC an extra week and then serve in a local mission until his cast comes off. So a couple months. This last week I finished the Book of Mormon again and it was great! There was so much new stuff I learned and my testimony was really strengthened. I am now trying to transfer my marked scriptures in English to my Spanish scriptures. We had the TRC this week and it was really good. Our "Investigator" said he really felt the spirit and even committed to baptism. I am super glad for the time I have had here and all the things I have learned but I am definately glad to be getting out there to Argentina. One thing I am really gonna miss are my companions. They are pretty super bomb. We just work so well together. i hope I have companions like them in the field. We taught the new missionaries a lesson in english and it was super good. i found that since i know the lessons in spanish it is so much easier to give them in English too. I made some crazy cool British friends. They are Elder Deeley and Elder Loynes. They are pretty much hilarious and going to Greece. Just super cool Elders. I have played volleyball pretty much everyday since being here and have actually gotten pretty good at it. This last saturday We had the RC. It was probably my hardest time being there. I felt like I was just screwing up whenever I was talking to anyone and it was just bad. i started to get kinda upset but then Hermano Stanfield shared with me again Ether 12:27. I really learned from it. I was being shown my weakness so I could humble myself and come unto Christ. It was a really good experience. So I will try again this next saturday and hopefully with help i will do good. If any of you ever get a chance you should watch music and the spoken word by the MoTab. it is super great and really brings the spirit. This week they had a great one with a chinese childrens choir. We had Stephen B Allen speak to us again about being careful when we get out into the field. Its starting to get really nice outside so we do a lot of studying out there. Its way better then being stuck in a room all day. Yesterday we had a health and safety meeting that was ridiculous. Some old guy telling us what to do in a lot of doctor words and yeah. he explained how to boil water and measure how fat you are based on your belt. he also said If you get bit to call Salt Lake and they would tell you if you had rabies or not ha ha ha. wow. ok so i have my flight plans. I leave and 8:20 in the morning on the 8th. I have a layover in dallas and one in florida then straight on through to Buenos Aires. but I dont get there till 8 the next morning. well thats about it for this week. Next week I will be writing from Argentina. Love you all!
Love,
Elder Day

Just a side note: He didn't say how he was going to get to Salta, so that will be interesting.

2010-02-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

We have been waiting for this photo. Elder Raymond, Elder Day, Elder Watson, Elder Watson: The cousins and where they are going.

Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim: i am excited to here you are getting a temple. That's awesome. I hear you try to find me at the Provo temple. I'm not allowed to tell you when I go so you will still have to find me on Tuesdays. I am amazed at how quickly you learn here and how fast it goes but I can't wait to get out.

Mom: Not much has happened this week. We had a really cool musical testimony meeting and some good lessons but everything is pretty much the same. i am staying away from basketball so I don't get hurt ha ha. I wish I could email other people so I would actually get to talk to my friends cause they don't write me besides Babe but i am trying to follow the rules unlike many missionaries here.

Dad: Santo Vaca! it is crazy here. I never thought I could learn so much spanish all at once. I was told the other day by a native that I speak spanish really well. That was nice to hear. Its kinda weird being able to think in spanish and not have to translate back and forth in your head. It is way good being here but I am glad I am halfway through because i am ready to get out there.

Elijah: hey good luck on your Ireland interview. I know you will do great just remember don't be nervous just be yourself and you will be fine. Track is starting soon are you excited? I try to run on the track here but it is too little so I just smash people at volleyball instead.

Rachel: Almost birthday time! You present will be coming soon. Hopefully before you leave to Disneyland. I miss you tons and hope you are doing good. Give Austin a hug for me.

Hola amigos! This week has been pretty fun. We had an awesome musical fireside that testified to me the importance of what I am doing and why I am out here. I am bringing people happiness in their lives. I know that Christ lives and is my Savior and only through Him can we return to our Father in Heaven. I know that families can be together forever and that it is through families that we have joy in this life. I know that I am happiest when I am with my family. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it was translated through a true prophet Joseph Smith. I know we have a living prophet on the Earth today that leads us and guides us. Another cool thing I got to do was go to the call center. The funny thing is, is that I have been about five times and never talked to anyone. I told my whole district that the first person I would talk to would be in Spanish. So when I went this week I was making calls in English. Lo and behold a latino answers the phone and the first person I talk to is in Spanish ha ha. There is this great Hermana in our district we call her Hermama Phillipy cause she takes care of us. She is gonna be at the LA temple visitors center so she took us on a practice tour. It was pretty cool and we got to watch some cool movies. My companions and I decided to start off lessons with a hymn and it is so awesome the spirit it brings. That's about it for this week

Elder Day

Email Home Jan 19, 2010

2010-01-20T08:01:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enought to get two emails from Josh on his P-Day.

Frist Email: Jan 19, 2010

Yay! I hope Rachel does great. I guess it's already time to start getting her birthday card out wow. Tell Elijah good job and that I want to hear from him.(answer to a question I asked him regarding a talk I have to give. "How I prepared him to go on a mission and go to the temple") Um I dunno you just made sure I was always doing the right things and getting the stuff done that I needed to. There is an interesting statistic that 99% of young men that get their Eagles and their duty to god go on missions and follow the Lord.So you deffinately made sure I got that. I am so excited for Elijah for Ireland. That is so great and he will love it. I didn't have to buy any books. They gave me a predicad me Evangelio and a set of leather spanish scripturesthat actually fit better into my box. Its deffinately a lot of work here but I am learning so quickly. We had Elder L. Tom Perry come speak last tuesday. That was awesome. He basicly taught us the first lesson so it was prettyneat learning how he would do it. Oh Elder Wells is from Billings, Montana but we got a third companion now. His name is Elder Johnson and he is also going to Argentina. So between the three of us and our three different areaswe cover like a third of Argentina. Elder Christensen in my district got sick the other day and now he is in quarantine:-( its so sad. Its like a bolted up building for all the sick people. So things are a lot less funny in class. Oh Dad just to let you know its only been two weeks and my district and I can go almost a full day without speaking any Englishand still have like real conversations. Its amazing how fast you learn here. I printed somepictures which I will try to send you today. It snowed yesterday by the way so that was something new. Oh and I went to the Referral Center and called people to share the gospel with them. That was super fun and I want to go back. However, I think one of our Hermanas weretramatized for life by the experience ha ha. I miss you guys and love you and will continue to make you proud.

Love,
Elder Day

Second Email: Jan 19, 2010

I see alec and the Watson twins all the time. We took a picture so that should be on its way soon. I also have some other pictures coming. Oh and i see sister Brown's nephew a lot too. Everything is pretty nice here there is just so much time to study sometimes you get tired. I gained another three pounds so thats pretty much amazing. i also decided to stay away from basketball cause I have almost hurt myself really bad twice. It kinda sucks that the field is closed because of snow. Grandma Barrett thanks for the advice. I will definately try to find some mouthwash with flouride.
Rachel: Thats good that school is going good. I'm sorry about your game but i am very proud of you for keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I miss you a lot and i hope you get my letter soon.
Elijah: Eh soccer comes and goes. you guys will be better next year. You will love track. Just put in the effort and you will do great. I am just happy the Cards made it into the playoffs. My room is like a dorm room there are two bunkbeds four closets and tour desks. So its not like huge or anything. Yeah my companions are pretty cool. They have a good sense of humor so they are easy to get along with.
Dad: Thanks for the advice. I actually understood it. I will try my best and let the Lord take over from there. I get to go to the temple every week so that is pretty cool.Its pretty neat though that like half of our class is in spanish. It really helps. How did you plan on your mission because some the ways they are showing us here are really crazy and don't really work for me?

Love
Elder Day

2010-01-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

Grandma Bird, Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim...Dropping Josh off at the MTC

Elder Joshua Day

January 6, 2010

First email home

2010-01-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here is our first email home:

Well things are going pretty good around here. I miss all of you so much but I know that the Lord will keep you all safe while I am on his mission. My flight up was really good. I went with four other missionaries. They seriously just kick you out on the curb here and you are in over your head. I had a crazy first few days. They started me off in beginning spanish and my companion's name was Elder Robbins. He was pretty cool. I got all unpacked and everything and then in the middle of day three they told me they were transferring me to intermediate spanish. so I changed everything and had to move. My new companion's name is Elder Well's. We get along great. He is the District Leader and I am the Senior Companion. They feed us tons here. I have already gained two pounds! I love it though. I am learning so much. I have like twelve hours of class a day. four of it is personal or companion study though. My Spanish is coming along. Slowly but it's making it haha. But our District's goal isto be fluent in 6 weeks. Well if you have any questions just mail me I guess.
Love,
Elder Day

P.S. He has a new box # it is 86. Please send him letters!

Current MTC Address

2010-01-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

If you would like to send Josh a letter please use the following address:

Joshua Daniel Day
MTC Mailbox # 225
ARG-SAL 0309
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

You can also go to dearelder.com and send him a note from there and they will delivery it to his mailbox for free.

MTC

2010-01-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

Flight leaves at 7:00 A.M. Wednesday Jan 6th from Phoenix, Arizona and arrives in Salt lake City at 8:40 A.M. My Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim will be there to pick me up...We will go to Orem and pick up my Grandma Bird.. Go out to lunch and Report to the MTC at 12:45 MST..

Farewell talk

2009-12-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here is for all those that weren't able to be at my farewell talk:

Wow! You mention on Facebook that you’re giving a talk and everyone in the world shows up!
Good afternoon,
In chapter 38 if the book of Alma, Alma teaches and shares with his sons about what he knows to be true and experiences from his life,and in particular, his testimony. In verse 9 he tells his son Shiblon:“And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold,he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.” (Alma 38:9.)This scripture has two main points that strike me: First of all, that fathers need to teach their children and lead by example,and secondly, that we can only be saved through Christ.
Growing up, I have learned from many people. Here at church, I have been able to have good teachers from nursery all the way up to Elders Quorum, where now even I give some lessons. As I have grown older, I have continued to learn from each of my teachers. While, it is great that I have been able to learn so much from so many people,some of the greatest lessons I have learned have been from my dad.My siblings and I have spent many hours sitting and listening to my dad’s stories and all the things he has done in his life. Whether it was when he and his family were captured by Cubans, or when he almost died scuba diving, these are in fact some of my favorite memories. I have learned so much from my dad including the most important things in life. I have heard his testimony and learned of this great gospel and the happiness it can bring to us.It is true that children learn a lot of what they do from example, but they also learn from experiences and lessons their parents share with them. Just as my dad has shared his experiences with me, the scriptures are full of examples of fathers passing on their experiences to their sons to try and help guide them in life. This is in fact one way we use the scriptures. In a way, the scriptures are our Heavenly Father’s stories. As we read we learn from the prophets lives and apply what they teach to our own, we are blessed.
In a 1977 New Era, Marion D. Hanks spoke on this subject.He said, concerning Alma 38:9, “That was this father’s first great witness to his sons:that he knew, in the only way men can know—that is, through the Spirit—that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that through him the penitent can be born again.”Alma knew for himself that Christ was his savior and through Him he could be saved just as every one of us need to learn for ourselves.Through Alma others had been taught. But this was not enough; he wanted his son to know too.Just like each of us must discover for ourselves.
And there is something more that you must know. Alma understood in a special, personal way the marvelous blessing of the forgiveness of God.In the scriptures it says that in his youth there was in the land a climate of unbelief, of spiritual darkness: “Many of the rising generation … did not believe the tradition of their fathers.“They did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ.“And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened.“… they would not be baptized; neither would they join the church … [nor would they] call upon the Lord their God.” (Mosiah 26:1–4.)Alma, son of a prophet, and his friends, sons of a righteous king, were part of this darkness and used their special gifts and talents to destroy faith. “He [and they] became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension … giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.” (Mosiah 27:9.)As the story goes they experienced pain and sorrow for their deeds. Through the prayers and fasting of their fathers, Heavenly Father was able to show them that they were on the wrong path.They learned their lesson and then became “strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.“But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.” (Alma 17:2–3.)Alma’s father had a witness, but that was not sufficient for Alma.Enos’s father knew and taught him, but not until Enos’s “soul hungered” and he cried to his Maker in mighty prayer and supplication did he gain the witness.The second thing I learn from Alma in Alma 38:9 is that we must be saved through Christ our savior. Again, Alma said, “there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.”No other being can or could do what He did, thus substantiating the claim that he is the only means to achieve our salvation.Jesus is the only means that we can be saved:
Christ is the life of the world. He created our world in the beginning and He is our brother. In the beginning a plan was proposed and Christ was chosen to die for us. He died for us to pay for all the sins that our Father in Heaven knew we would do,that would keep us from returning to Him. Christ provided us with a way to return to our Heavenly Father. His atonement and resurrection bought us and paid for both our physical and spiritual deaths.We are saved from physical death by His resurrection. As the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive.” Everyone who has been born and will be born will be saved from physical death. We have all been guaranteed this for choosing to come to Earth. We can also be saved from spiritual death through our obedience and repentance. As we pray to our Father in Heaven and repent of all our wrong doings He can forgive us through Christ’s atonement.Christ is the light of the world. We are each born with the Light of Christ. This light helps us to know right from wrong. When someone hears the gospel the Light of Christ is in part what helps them understand and respond to the truth of it. Christ will continue to guide us as long as we continue to follow His commandments. He is our light out of the darkness of sin and spiritual death; otherwise “we see through a glass darkly.” Without Christ, we would all die in darkness, at the mercy of Satan. We sing:The Lord is my light; then why should I fear? By day and by night his presence is near.He is my salvation from sorrow and sin;This blessed assurance the Spirit doth bring.His light answers the ultimate questions of life: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are going after this life? The answers to those questions banish fear and darkness.Christ is the word of truth. Many people and churches argue over how to interpret his teachings and even if he was our Savior. Many live in confusion and cannot seem to determine right from wrong and are as Paul noted to the Ephesians,” tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” However, His teachings and example cannot be refuted. There is no gray area or relativity or rationalizing his precepts. What He taught was true and He lived a perfect example. His gospel applies to all people of all ages, in all places, and compliments the good in all people and in all cultures. His gospel can and will fit into everyone and anyone’s lives. As we can now see, the gospel has spread around the world and continues growing at a rapid pace even now. New missionaries are constantly going out into the field just as I will be doing in a few short weeks. They are bringing people to the truth.Christ is the word of righteousness. If we follow His teachings and example we will be led only to righteousness. There are many paths that wind toward fame and fortune, indolence and greed, loneliness and despair. Those roads often wander through or run parallel to our Saviors path, but they do not lead to the correct destination. His atonement allows us to cleanse ourselves through repentance, and teaches the patience necessary to live with and love others regardless of their sins. As we have always been taught, love one another as Jesus loves us. Though unrighteous people may pollute His teachings or question his divinity, there are those who strive to live by His principles and lead good lives. We know and understand our purpose in life. We can answer the question posed by philosophers: “How does one justify one’s existence?” If each of us strive to live our lives in accordance with Christ’s teachings, what further justification would we need?Now it is my turn to go out into the world and teach other people about Christ and his atonement and bring them to His wisdom and knowledge. I cannot wait to get to Argentina and teach the people what I know. I know the Lord will prepare a way for me and I will be able to touch the hearts of many bringing them back to the right path.
I have learned and I know that Christ is my savior…

Farewell Talk and Get Together

2009-12-13T18:11:00.000-08:00

Sunday December 20th I will have my farewell talk at 1pm at the Peoria stake center on 83rd and Sweetwater. At 6:30 pm there will be a get together at my house. Come and say goodbye! Comment if you need my address and I will get it to you.