dec 12, 1990
Today’s reading: Isaiah 55:7, Mormon 9:
Isaiah 55:7- If we will forsake our sins. The only reason that thisld never judge others, because we are each unworthy to return to God on our own merits.
Mormon 9:11- The God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all worshipped is a God of miracles- even Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, even Jehovah, is the great Crator, Savior, and Judge of this world. Christ came BECAUSE Adam fell.
Verse 12: I am gaining constantly in my understanding of the role of Jesus Christ as both father and SOn. He is the Father in that he:
- Created this earth
- He redeemed us from our sins
- He redeemed us from death
- He taught us the way back to the Father.
He is the Son because He is the Son of God, submissive to the will of His Father in all things.
Verse 13: Because of the atonement, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will all be resurrected and brought back to the presence of God. This brings an end to our temporal and spiritual death. Some will be cast out from the presence of God again after judgement, brings about a second spiritual death.
Dec 12, 1990
Well today was one of those days to just get your butt out and work it off. We taught three discussions. I am so tired that I can hardly believe it. I’m not too sure what to do about the fact that I am so tired. This morning during scripture study, I must have fallen asleep about 15 times. It is not that I don’t want to stay awake, but I just can’t.
Tonight we went to see Her thao agian. He showed us a movie of Laos. It was really neat to hear him tell about his homeland. He and his family were airlifted out of Laos by U.S. Air Force transports and brought directly to the United States. I just really wish he would get serious about church.
Well, I’ve got to go to bed.
Dec 13, 1990
I can’t believe that it is morning all ready! Today’s Reading:
Jeremiah 35:15,- It is very interesting that Jeremiah says “every man.” I used to think that there were degress of sinners, or that some men were more justified in their actions than others. However, I realize now that not one of us is justified. We must all repent from the beginning. We must each amend our evil doings, and get on with living a righteous life. After we have repented fully, the Lord will restore ALL blessings to our heads. WE need not worry about blessings being “withheld” from us. The only period of time that we have blessings withheld from us is the time between the comission of our sins and the repentance. After we repent, the Lord remembers our sins NO more. It is exactly as if that sin was not committed. If we have repented ALL intended blessings will be restored to our heads.
Mormon 9:14- After we are judged, it will be far to late to repent. At that point, the things that we have not repented of will result in a permanent loss of blessings. We must repent fully that we might be found spotless at judgement day and thus remain spotless for eternity.
Verse 15- Since it is true that only some of the miracles prophesied of have been fullfilled thus far, it is obvious that more miracles will follow. If some miracles have been fulfilled, then the prophets were righteous and correct, therefore all of the miracles which they prophesied of must be fulfilled.
Well, today we were on splits all day long. I went with Elder Mannewity to see a lot of Hmong people. he just got switched from the English program to the Lao program. Since he has a Thai companion, he had had a difficult time adjusting to the Lao people.
We went and taught Nyia Vue Mona and his family today. That is just one of those families that has had 3 sets of missionaries come to see them, but no on had ever taught them the gospel. Making the transition from such a social relationship to a proper or appropriate missionary- investigator relationship is kind of difficult, but it seems to be going well with many of the I really, really hope that some of the people we are working with will come to church and really enjoy the spirit there.
I was certainly happy that our dinner appointment for tonight was cancelled. It enabled us to tay out and work instead of having to ride all of the way to an American’s house for dinner, spend an hour there, and ride all of the way back to a Hmong person’s house. I am really fighting the tendency to get into a groove and quite progressing.
Dec 14, 1990
Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 16:11, Mormon 9:16-
Ezekiel 16:61- After we have truly repented and been washed clean, after we have been humbled by the shame of our sins, after all of these necessary steps, then will the Lord allow the new and everlasting covenant (which culminates in eternal marriage) to be fulfilled. Then, and only then, we our family units truly be forever. We must repent.
Mormon 9:16- We, in our limited understanding of God, know that the works of God are truly marvelous. As my understanding increases, I am constantly amazed by the wonderful works of God. Just think how Marvelous God would be to us if we could comprehend even 1% of his works!
***Verse 17: Who can look at this beautiful earth, at all of the wonderful creations of God and say that God is not a God of miracles? WE must always be careful to maintain OUR faith so that WE will always capable of being instruments that the Lord uses to work miracles.
Verse 18: Another thing that simply can not be denied is the works of Christ and His apostles. It is obvious from these last few verse that miracles do happen. The one thing that we must always keep in mind that not matter how much we can prove, we must always keep in mind the necessity of a spiritual witness.
Well, we went to see mia xiong, her sister and her Brother- in-law. We taught them a second discussion. it really, really went well, Her brother-in-law asked some really good questions and seemed to be quite interested. we asked them to be baptized on the fifth of January. they said they would pray about it and decide. they all ready go to the Hmong Christian alliance, but they said that they haven’t gone for a long time. I really hope that they can have the courage to do what they know is right.
We went to seed write a few more Hmong people today, but we were unable to teach any of them. At one house where an old couple lives, I looked over at the end table where there was a dead house on the table! We laughed about it and I asked them how it died. It turns out that the mouse had been caught in a mouse trap a few days ago. they just hadn’t bothered to throw it away!
Dec 15, 1990
Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 18:30, Mormon 9:19-
ezekiel 18:30- We can not be turned from our evil ways by anyone except for ourselves. If we are forced from our evil ways, we can not say that we have truly repented, and we will be temped in that thing again so that we ca have the opportunity to prove ourselves and our repentance again. We must repent for all of our transgressions.
Mormon 9:19- God must be perfect to be God. If God changes, he ceases to be perfect. By bringing an end to his perfection, (which in and of itself is a contradiction of terms- perfection, true perception is eternal) He would cease to be god. It is very obvious from this argument that since God used to perform miracles, He is stil a God of miracles today, and His is a God of miracles forever.
Verse 20- In all of the miracles that god had ever performed unto the children of men, there has always been one constant, the requirement of faith. If men say that God does not perform miracles among them, it is only because they have not the required faith. When faith declines, so does righteousness. WE must always fight to maintain and increase OUR faith. When we let up on this fight, we also let up on OUR fight for Eternal Life together.
Today was really a tough day. For some reason I have been aching really, really bad inside. I think I have just been really homesick. I was really hoping to get a tape from Kristin today, but I didn’t. I just got a letter. She is really busy with getting ready for finals and stuff. Now I know how she felt when I was always too busy for her. I know that I should definitely quit feeling sorry for myself. I mean, I’m glad that Kristin is working so hard in school. After all, If we didn’t have plans, she wouldn’t be in this program anyway. I guess I just really miss her. There is a big hole inside that had just really seems empty.
It had been cold and rainy all day today. I think that that probably has an awful lot to do with the way I feel. tomorrow, I have to five a talk in our very first Hmong meeting. i am quite nervous about it. i hope and pray that the Spirit will be there to guide me. no wonder I’m homesick! I have been cold, wet and scared all day long.
Dec 16, 1990
Today’s reading D&C 19, patriarchal blessing, mission call, Hosea 13:14, Mormon 9:21
Hosea 13:14- This verse’s use of the word repentance is somewhat different than what I had in mind. The original Hebrew translation gives insight into the true meaning of this scripture. Christ had no compassion on the grave. he opened the way for every single person to be resurrected. Not on person will not be resurrected.
Mormon 9:21- Cross reference- Moroni 7;33
I hope that some day my faith can develop to this point. I must learn to doubt nothing. It is important to notice that this promise is not only extended to certain people, but is extended to every single person on this earth.
Verse 22: In order to truly be a disciple of Christ, we must proclaim the gospel to others in all that we do say, speak, and think. It is important to be missionary minded at all ties, especially when teaching OUR children. I think that as a family, WE should have the missionaries over once a month.
Verse 23: If we truly come to believe in Christ, we will do all that He asked us to do- including the ordinance of baptism. If we do the things that Christ asked, we will be worthy to return to Christ and Heavenly Father. IF we don’t we will be damned to live alone in our guilt.
Well, church today was slightly disappointing. We ha about ten people there, so I was disappointed mainly over the turnout. Im really hoping that some improvement is made a little bit at a time. We just had a whole bunch of people tell us at the last minute that they had New Year’s Parties to go to instead.
We went over to Pao Yang’s today and helped him with some of his school work. After this week, we should be able to start teaching some discussions to him. He came to church today and is a super neat guy. He had been telling us for a while that he will take the discussions as soon as his finals are over. Right now, he is studying to be a geography professor.
Today was really cold, it froze last night, so riding our bikes this morning was really, really , really cold. We had to ride about 6 miles this morning and it was cold and rainy. Not fun! I really wish that my parents would send my coat out here to me. i asked them to send me a coat about three weeks ago. I wonder if they thought I was kidding or what??
Dec 17, 1990
Today’s reading: Joel 2:14, Mormon 9:24-
Joel 2;14- If we will truly repent of our sins, the Lord will truly bless us. The meat and drink offering here are symbolically similar to the sacrament. The partaking of the sacrament is the final step of the repentance.
Mormon 9:24- These signs are all demonstrated daily in the Church of Jesus christ of Latter-day Saints. The key to this is that if we desire to do these things we must not only believe, but WE must of forth. IF WE do not forth and work, how can signs “follow us?” We must be progressing in order to be able to have signs follow us.
Verse 25- If we will believe in Christ, He will confirm all of our beliefs. The goal that we should have is to develop our faith to the pony that we are doubting nothing. We ware doubting nothing then Christ will confirm our belief sending the Holy Ghost to confirm the truth of all things to us. We must build our lives on faith.
Well, we didn’t take P-day today because the Zone leaders loaned us their car to go to Tulare to see Hmong people. It was just a super fantastic day! We first went to see the Bishop here in visalia to see what he thought we should do. It was super! He told me that if anyone needed a calling, that all I had to do was to suggest a calling for them. That is awesome! I hope he is ready for some suggestions on Sunday.
In Tulare, we didn’t get to see everyone that we wanted to see,but we got to about half of them. We taught four discussions that all went really well. I love to be a missionary. I am so tired that I can not hardly believe it. at one of the complexes we were at, one of the oldest men kept watching us, but he never came to talk to us and seemed to avoid us. I really tried to talk to him once, but he kept avoiding us. Finally during our last discussion, he came in. he said that I should go teach people who still don’t believe in God. I asked him which church was true our of all of these churches. he said he didn’t know, so from there we went right into a first discussion, It was awesome. he had read the bible cover to cover! I really, really hope that he will allow us to really teach him. I hope and pray that he will really listen to the promptings of the Spirit.
—— Dec 18, 1990
Today’s Reading- Amos 7:3, Mormon 9:26-
Amos 7:3- Again, the Joseph Smith Translation gives insights. Because of the fact the Lord knew the people of Israel would repent, He said that the plague of grasshoppers would be withheld. If the people had not repented, they would have needed to face the plague. This shows that the Lord will restore intended blessings fully if we will but repent.
Mormon 9:26- All of the people who despise the works of the Lord will surely perish. I think that it is very important to guar our minds against all negative emotions. When we have negative emotions towards ourselves, one another, or others, we are led from one negative emotion to another. I really need to work on avoiding discouragement, loneliness and disappointment. If I allow my heart to feel negative emotions, I will soon feel no positive emotions. Despair is the negative emotion that comes into one’s heart after many other negative emotions. If one allows negative emotions to dwell in his mind, he cannot have the Spirit and will surely perish.
Verser 27: If WE pray unto the Father with no doubts, it shall be granted unto US. WE must wholeheartedly serve the Lord. WE must place the Lord’s work above all other things in our lives. In fact, WE should do nothing in OUR lives that does not further the work of the Lord. If WE will but do the work of the Lord, WE will have ultimate joy and happiness in our lives.
When my alarm went of this morning, I could hardly move. Last night was far too short. I for up and said prayer, but then I went back to bed until 6:30.
Today was kind of a weird day. This morning was district meeting. After which we went to the doctor’s office with Vam Meeb Thao. He had a kidney stone that had to be removed.
We went just as a translator so that he would understand what was going on. This man was scared to death. He was a soldier for 15 years. He had been shot 3 times. He had been so close to bombs that went off that they would give him nose bleeds and cause temporary deafness, but the idea of having a kidney stone removed scares him to death.
We only taught one discussion today, and that one was very tiring. I have felt all day like I just simply can not catch up. I just want to go to bed for about three days.
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