June 7, 1991
Moroni 10:6- All good things acknowledge and prove the Christ lives. Christ is the source of all good things. The reason that we seek after all good things (Art of faith 13) is to allow ourselves to gain stronger witnesses of Jesus Christ. There is not good thing that would contradict the existence of Christ or the commandments given us of Christ. If something persuades us to break the commandments, then it can not be good.
7: Everyone has the opportunity to know by the power of the holy Ghost that Christ lives. However, there are many who deny the power of God by saying that God either does not answer prayers, or they deny the answer once they receive it. He worth miracles among us according to the faith which we have. Finally, God is unchanging. He works the same miracles among us now as He has in the past if we will only have faith.
8: We must not deny the gifts of the Spirit. They are manifested unto men so that men might profit by them, not profit temporally, but spiritually. there are many gifts of the Spirit. Each faithful member of the church has one or more of these gifts developed to a greater or lesser extent. Each of us has a gift of the Spirit. One gift does not make a person any better or worse than another all gifts come from God.
I would have to admit that today was not the hardest working day of my life. i am so tired that I simply can not catch up between 10:30pm and 6:00 am We spent the evening at Nopparat and Tu’s house. They taught us how to make egg rolls. It was pretty fun. I guess we did get quite a bit done today. We taught two discussions, to Cheng Mous and his family and to Ze Moua and his wife. Ze Moua committed to be baptized on the 19th of this month. Anyway, we also taught a 2nd new member discussion to Nopparat. All in all, it was a fairly productive day. I am just really tired I guess. Maybe we’ll try not to have any appointments until after 6:00 p.m. this P-day.
June 8, 1991
Verse 9: Some have a spiritual gift to be able to teach on a higher plain than knowledge. They are able to relay deep thoughts and ideas through the power of the Spirit. This is something that I have been allowed to do many times on my mission.
10: Others are given the ability to teach logically. The Holy Ghost can enlighten the minds of the listener so that the knowledge that the teacher has can be conveyed to the learner, line upon line, precept on precept. Birth of the gifts in 9 & 10 are mentioned in my patriarchal blessing and are gifts that I have been blessed to use on my mission.
-President Bott just called on the phone to tell us that Elder Jasperson had been kicked out of the Hmong program in Fresno.
11: Some people are blessed with exceeding faith. This is a gift which I have really strived to develop over the past year, but I still have a long way to go. This is one gift that Krisitin possesses to an amazing extent. The gift of healing is a gift that I have. I need to continue to learn more about it, and how to discern when to use this gift. I’ve also received a crash course on when to use it and not use it in the last month.
The use of these gifts is not limited only to my mission. (will strive to develop my spiritual gift throughout m life and the eternities.
So far every bike area that I have been in has had at least on day that has been devoted to my comp’s bike repairs. Today was that day. elder Barton got a flat tire at about 1:30. We walked the bikes home, went to the bike shop to buy him a new inner tube, and walked back to the apartment. The new inevitable had a hole in it!! To make a long story short, we caught rides the rest of the day and forgot about bikes.
This afternoon, Tu & Nopparat had a party that they invited us to. Al of the Hmong ministers from the other church (CMA) were there. They said a prayer for Tu to thank God for healing him, during which everyone was chanting and carrying on. It made Tu & Noppart really nervous.
After the got done praying, Tu turned around and asked me to give him a blessing. While we were waiting for a chair, I explained to everyone about the Priesthood, Joseph Smith, blessings and Christ giving the priesthood to His apostles. After that, I told them of the importance of being reverent and asked them all to please be quiet while we blessed him. The difference in the way that room felt during their prayers compared to our blessing was unreal. it was amazing! Several of the people there were noticeably touched. Afterwards, Nopparat told me that they had wanted to shoe all of the others the right way to worship God. By the way, the reason the other church was there was that the party was a Tu’s sister’s house. She is a born again Christian.
June 9, 1991
Moroni 10:12- Mighty miracles are done by small means. There are many members of the church that have performed mighty miracles. I have bee very blessed in this area also. I can not believe how often the Lord has blessed me with the gifts listed here. There are many who have this gift to a far greater extent than I , yet I feel I have acted in a way that allowed me to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands. There have also been times that I have prevented myself, through my actions, from being worthy of this.
13: The spirit of prophesy is the means by which a testimony is received.
KEY- When we act by the direction of the Holy Spirit, it is possible for us to have many of there gifts. I have never before realized how many of these gifts I have been able to and blessed to develop on my mission. It is amazing to me! It is also very humbling.
14: I have never knowingly beheld an angel. However, I know that there are many times in my life that angels have ministered unto me and helped me through the hard times.
15: The gift of tongues has been so strongly manifested to me on my mission.
The Spirit just bore witness to me of the abundance of these blessings in my life. It is so humbling and comforting to realize how blessed I have been I am so unworthy of these blessings.
Chia yang came to church today! It was so cool! He talked to our Branch Presidency for about 15 minutes after church. He is really a neat guy. He brought his wife and kids and everything. he is really a great guy. i hope and pray that his family will let him be baptized.
We tired to see a number of people today, but Nrucas Hawj was the only one home. We taught him a second discussion, expressed to him the importance of this whole thing, and asked him to pray about it. I really hope that he can get a grip on it. he knows the scriptures better than any Hmong man that I have ever met. He all ready has an intellectual testimony of the gospel, but without the spiritual side of a testimony. the intellectual side does absolutely no good. It is the spiritual witness tha brings about the change of heart that the people of King Benjamin experienced that causes men to desire to keep the commandments (Mosiah 5:3)
I love my mission with all of my heart. This will be the foundation for the experience that I need to be a righteous and successful father and priesthood holder and husband 9not in that order) in Zion. What an opportunity!
June 10, 1991
Moroni 10:16- There are many in the church today that also have this gift. I can certainly attest to the fact that this is a separate gift than the gift of tongues. The reason I can attest to that is that there have been times that I have had one gift but not the other. There have been times when I had one and my companion had the other. This obviously made us work together as a team. This happened quite often with Elder Brown and I.
17: These gifts are all gifts that come to us through the Holy Ghost because of the atonement of Christ. We receive these gift only as Christ sees fit.
18: Every good gift comes from Christ. Although Satan can imitate these gifts, when they are truly good , they come only from Christ. The way to determine the source of these gifts is to look at the fruits of those who possess these gifts are exclusively limited to members of the church, but on rare occasions may be manifested in others according to the purposes of God.
19- These things all come from God. God does not change. Therefore, as long as the same requirements for these gifts are met, these gifts will continue to be manifested unto men. The major condition which must be met is faith. Miracles among the faithful will never cease. Miracles among the unbelieving have never occurred. Neither of these things will ever change.
We spent less time in the apartment today than a normal pros- day. We went to the hospital to translate at 8:00 am At 11:30 we got home. i got my haircut, that is a whole different story, then we went back to the hospital to translate. we got home again at 1:30 p.m. I wrote a letter to Kristin, one to Grandpa and Grandma and one to home. At 6:00 pm, we had an appointment with Riam Yaj (Chia Yang) That guy is absolutely unreal! He took us to see his Grandfather! We taught his Grandfather who then said he wanted to join the church! If this all works out, we are going to have baptisms here like crazy. If an eighty- year old man joins the church, so will his kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Chia is all really making plans on how to convert all of the other people in the family. Things here in Stockton are absolutely going to explode! I hope that President Bott will leave me here long bough to see it happen. These next few months here are going to be very exciting.
After that, we went back to the hospital to translate. One of Nruas Hawj’s uncles is in the hospital with kidney failure. Needless to say, he needs a lot of translating done for him. We didn’t get home until 10:45 p.m. That means I was late for prayers. Sorry.
June 11, 1991
Moroni 10:20- Without faith, no miracles can be performed, including the revelation of the truth to an individual. Without the truth, one can not be saved. It is impossible to be saved in ignorance (D&C 131:6) Therefore, faith becomes requisite for salvation, Faith on Jesus Christ leads to hope for one’s own salvation based on the answers he receives through faithful prayer. The more hope one has, the more faith will develop. When these two qualities develop, so will one’s love of Christ, which love is charity. The more we love Christ, the more we will love our fellow man. Have charity- that is the 1st and greatest commandment (Matt 22:38-39)
verse 21: It is simple to see how without obedience to the first and great commandment, it is impossible to be saved. Therefore, we must develop faith, which leads to hope, which hope leads to charity. This is how charity is developed. it is also easy to see that faith and hope are prerequisite to developing charity. Therefore, if one can not be saved without charity, then he must also have faith and hope in order to be saved.
Verse 22: Moroni is not talking to the wicked. We all have iniquities far greater than we realize. without the hope that comes to us through the atonement of Christ, we must surely know that we are damned. I am so grateful for the atonement of Christ which gives me hope for salvation. Without this hope, my life would me meaningless.
Is it hot here or what1 It was 103 F on Monday and hot today too. The hotter it gets, the bigger Stockton seems when riding a bike. Today was another awesome day! I don’t know what it is about the last few weeks, but life has been awesome. Things with Kristin have been better than ever, the missionary work has been better than ever, I have felt better than ever deep down. Things are just plain going great.
I had a hard time speaking Hmong today because I have had a sore throat, but we still managed to teach 4 discussions. The Lord continues to bless us with the best experiences in the world. We had to spend until 12:30 p.m. fixing my comp’s bike, but we still had a super day. Somebody that loves me must really be praying for me. I don’t know what I did to deserve all of these wonderful experiences, but I am sure happy. The Lord has blessed me far beyond what I am worthy of.
June 12, 1991
Moroni 10:23- (7:33 cross) Christ has promised us that if we have faith, we can do all things that are right in the sight of God. We must have faith, but we also must listen to the Spirit so that we can truly know what it is that is expedient in the Lord’s sight. With faith we will live righteously enough to have the spirit. Then we ca do all things which are expedient in the sight of God.
verse 24: At this point Moroni addresses every living person on the earth. The only reason that Miracles will ever or have ever ceased among men is because of the unbelief of those men. We must have faith, then miracles can be a part of our daily lives.
Verse 25: Anytime that a group of people has no believer among them, it is indeed a sad time for that group of people has no believer among them, it is indeed a sad time for that group. Without the faith and hope in Christ, what motivates men to do good? Noting. If there is only one believer, he shall have the gists of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit come through individual faith and resultant righteousness. It is possible to be the only one in a group that is righteous enough to have these gifts; however, extreme caution must be taken to prevent one from falling to the level of his associates.
Verse 26: Those who, through their unbelief, do away with the gifts of the Spirit shall surely die in their sins. To once have had the gifts and then lose them by denying them is truly a great sin.
All prophets speak according to the words of Christ.
Today was a pretty good day. I got a letter from U.C. San Diego today. It is going to be pretty tough to transfer into there, but I think I’ll give it a shot and see what happens. I don’t need to decide for sure where I want to go for quite a while. i think I’ll just try to keep my options open for awhile.
We got to teach Cheng moue and his family about the way we would baptize them and have them each practice being baptized in the family room. That is always a fun thing to help someone practice. That is usually when they realize that they are actually going to get baptized.
We also taught a discussion to Nruas Hawj. That one seemed to go really well. i am still hoping that he will catch the vision. We pretty much laid it on the line today, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.
June 13, 1991
I feel really sick this morning. Sore throat, stomach ache, dizziness, and no voice. I hope it soon goes away. Notes from today’s reading:
Moroni 10:27- We will al be brought to stand before the judgement bar of christ and judged according to the witnesses that we have received. The prophets will al testify of the things that they have taught us. The missionaries will testify as to whether or not they bore witness to those they contacted. i don’t ever want to have to say that I didn’t bear witness to someone. i will bear witness to all those whom I contact.
Verse 28- God will ask us if we received these things. It is for this reason that we better study daily to know what is in the Book of Mormon. Every generation shall be judged according to the witnesses they received. Those in this generation have been blessed with more witnesses than any previous generation. Wo unto those who do not heed these things.
Verse 29- God will show unto all that the prophets’ witnesses have all been true. At that day, the wicked will realize their iniquity. God will show us in this life that the words the prophets say are true, if we will but seek a witness, then we will realize our iniquity while we still have time to repent. One of Satan’s strongest tools id to convince men to procrastinate seeking this witness. If men will seek this witness a described in verse 4, it will truly be given them.
I feel like crap today. My throat hurts, I am dizzy, and my voice is just about gone. we went on splits with the Cambodians all day. It went pretty well. i hate riding my bike when I’m sick. I am going to bed.
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