Sept 11, 1990
Today’s reading: 3 Nephi 27:7-
Verse 7: We are commanded to do all things in Christ’s name. This is so that we will constantly remember Him. If we always remember Him, our actions and thoughts will always be pure. We will always remember to do what is right, and we will be more protected from temptation by the Holy Ghost. The reason we pray in Christ’s name is that His is the only one worthy to pray. Once we sin, if it was not for Christ, we would have no right to pray. However, through Christ’s atonement, we are able to have prayer and gospel ordinances. We therefore call the church by Christ’s name ad pray in His name. He is the one that gives us the right to go to church and to pray (If we will repent)
Verse 8: Christ’s church must be both called by His name and have the fullness of His gospel. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church on the earth that meets both of these conditions. Most other churches are not even called by Christ’s name. how could they be His church? They couldn’t.
Verse 9: Because Christ is the only one worthy to pray, we must pray in His name for the Father to hear. If we call the Church in His name, and the Church prays in His name together (see verse 1 & 2), the Father will hear and answer our prayers (see Moroni 10:4)
Verse 10: If the church is built upon Christ’s gospel, then the Father will show forth His works in that church. (Gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretations of tongues, and so forth Art. of Faith #7) Our church is the only church on the earth in which this gift is evident. It is interesting that Joseph Smith, in Art. of faith #7, lists all of these things as one gift, Since they are all of the Spirit, if we can obtain one, we can obtain all of them. The key is living Christ’s gospel to the extent that we can be worthy of these gifts.
I spoke at District meeting today. It actually went fairly well. I spoke about the importance of reading the book of Mormon and how we as missionaries needed to be sure to study every day from its pages. My comp took it pretty hard. He didn’t say a word the entire way home. Then when we got home, he was really down for a while. After the zone leaders left, he came into the kitchen where I was and asked what I thought we would have to do to get some baptisms. He told e we had to change something. I was absolutely in shock! We had a really good talk about what had been going on and how to improve our proselyting skills. Just the idea that we can improve is a big step forward for him. I sure hope we can get things rolling in Fresno now. We’ll just have to wait and see. Tonight, I had some of the worst food yet on my entire mission- pork liver- yum! It was partially cooked and then spiced up a lot with Asian peppers. It was pretty bad. I can’t remember if I’ve written about the pork skin with the hair still in it that one old lady fed to us. Oh! what a treat! yuck!
Tonight, I went to Thai Her’s house, He basically just wants to play around. It hurts so bad inside when someone learns about Christ, you see him feel the Spirit, and he still doesn’t want to change his lifestyle. I just testified to him and left ( after we said a prayer). I know he has been told the church was true. I was there when he prayed about it. I saw him find out. He just doesn’t care enough to follow Christ’s commandments.
The gift of tongues is so real. The Lord has helped me so much today. The Church is true. I have seen miracles performed through the power of the Priesthood. I write this testimony, as short as it is, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior, Amen.
Sept 12, 1990
It stays dark longer every morning.
Today’s reading: 3 Nephi 27:11-
Verse 11: The Bible Dictionary says that the phrase “by and by” meant immediately in 1611. It is apparent that it is used here as it is used today, to mean eventually. If a church is not Christ’s, it is either man’s or Satan’s. For a time, the Lord will tolerate these organizations, but after a time, Christ will destroy these churches and their followers.
Verse 12: Anything that is not of Christ, must be of Satan. If some churches are of men, and the men’s hearts are not set on Christ, the men’s hearts are set on Satan and the churches are of Satan. They will be judged for their works. If a church is not of God, then the works of that church are not of God. If a person’s works are not of god, he will be judged in his wickedness. The reason Christ tells us to “remember” is so when someone tries to deceive us, we will know the truth and remain strong in the faith.
Verse 11: (There’s More!) Men must have their hearts built upon Christ’s gospel. If not, Christ will tolerate their works for a while. In fact, the things they do will even make them happy for awhile. When the end comes;however, they will be cast out from God’s presence and hewn into the fire. Our thoughts must be centered on Christ’s not on worldly desires.
Verse 12: Our works will follow us into the next life. We will be accountable for all of out actions, except the ones we have fully repented of and Christ has taken away from us.
Verse 13: Christ came into the world to do God’s will because God, Christ’s Father, sent him. We have all been sent to this earth by God, We all must strive to do the will of our Father in Heaven and accomplish that which God wants us to do.
I saw even more of a change in Elder Jasperson today than I did yesterday. We went over to Elder and Sister Watter’s place. Elder Watters was complaining about everything. For instance, last night I had set him up with a translator to do teach a discussion. He and I each talked to the translator twice, but he thought it was Elder Jasperson’s fault that the translator wasn’t there for the appointment. We had a long talk and needless to say I didn’t put up with anything from Elder Watters. We helped him understand a little better how his area book works and then I split with them and taught a fifth discussion with them.
I was teaching the law of tithing ( in Hmong) and Elder Watters asked what I was saying. I told him. He proceeded to tell the man that if his children save 10% of the money they earn, and go on missions, that’s paying tithing. I couldn’t believe it! The man we were teaching understands English too! I just immediately started teaching in Hmong again.
Anyway, Elder Jasperson has really been humbled these past few days. i am so glad to see that change. Now, if we can just put the pieces back together right, we are going to baptize every hmong in Fresno.
I didnt get any mail again.
Sept 13, 1990
Today’s Reading: 3 Nephi 27: 14-
Verse 14: Christ was lifted up on the cross by wicked men who had falsely judged him. en will be lifted up to be judged by Christ at judgement day. Christ was sent to the earth, to suffer the pains of en, so that he could judge us with understanding and righteousness. Christ will not judge as the men judged him, he will judge with a perfect knowledge and understanding. IF the things we have done are food, we will be saved. If not, we won’t. I feel it is important to do good works after we repent. When we repent, our bad works are remembered no more. But we must not only not have bad works we must have good works in order to be saved.
Verse 15: The Father has all power. therefore, if all people are lifted up according to the power of the Father to be judged, all men will be lifted up to be judged. I still don’t understand this verse completely, but my half hour is up. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Today has gone like crap!!! I thought that Elder Jasperson had been humbled a little yesterday, but today was the same as ever. I am so sick and tired of hearing how wonderful he is from him, that I am absolutely sick of it. I am AAAAAH!
Sept 14, 1990
Well, we spent a lot of time talking last night. I think that maybe we actually got somewhere, but we’ll have to wait and see. We decided to ask President Bott to let us spend the next two months working on getting the branch organized and put back together. Yesterday, we even met a woman who has been sealed to her husband, but no one in the branch even knew where in the world she lived! I just can not imagine what is going on in this branch. Hopefully we can get things put back together. One of the biggest problems we have right now is that when we take people to church, they see right away what an absolute organizational wreck it is. We’ll just see how things go here for the next little while. Hopefully, my comp and I can start getting along better now, too.
Today’s Reading: 3 Nephi:27:15-
Verse 15: When Christ says he will draw all men unto Himself, that they may be judged according to their works, he simply meant that all men will be resurrected or “lifted up” to be judged.
Verse 16; Everyone who repents and is baptized shall be filled, filled with the Holy ghost. after this we must endure to the end in keeping the ordinances and laws of the gospel (A of F #3) This is the same formula for salvation that was given by King Benjamin in Mosiah chapter 5. If we will follow the path here outlined, we will stand blameless before God at the last day. Christ shall judge the world at the last day. He redeemed the world with His blood, now He will judge the world according to his words which are written and each person’s obedience to them.
————-COOPER 8/4
Verse 17: The people who are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, but are not able to endure to the end, do not choose to endure to the end in keeping Christ’s commandments, shall be cast out of God’s presence at the last day. This also applies to those who receive a witness of the truthfulness of the gospel, but do not choose to follow the teachings of Christ.
Verse 18: The Father sent Christ to teach us how to be saved so that we might be saved. God’s words will all be fulfilled. In verse 17 it says that after someone is cast out, he can no more return, EVER. Judgement will come upon all of us, and it will be FINAL. After this life, there will be no repentance. This life is the time to prepare to meet God.
Today has been kind of a crazy day. About noon, we went on splits with the zone leaders. Elder Watson and I went to visit some of the Cambodian members. I had thought that the Hmong people had it rough but good grief! The Cambodians’ living conditions are at least twice as bad. They just don’t have anything at all. They are just about flat broke, their apartments are disgustingly filthy, they just don’t have anything. I guess I just keep realizing more and more how truly blessed i am and have been so far in my life. The Lord has given me so much, both temporally and spiritually. Where much is given, much is expected. I only hope that I can give what is expected of me.
We also went with the Spanish Elders on splits today. The guy that I was with only had been out about 3 weeks (not much longer than me). He was really nervous in the Hmong people’s houses and didn’t try to say anything. I also get the felling he was really nervous about this whole mission thing. Well, he will be doing all right in a while if he can just settle down a little.
We taught the Mona’s again tonight, and they want to be baptized before the end of the month. yeah! I just really hope thy’ll be able to do it!
Sept 15, 1990
Today’s Reading: 3 Nephi 27:19-
Verse 19: We wash our garments in the blood of Christ by the conversion process. Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism by water and fire, and enduring to the end. This formula is given over and over again in the scriptures. How many times must we be told? This is the only way to get to the Celestial Kingdom. We must strive always to get to the Celestial Kingdom in this way. In this verse, Christ uses the phrase, “faithfulness unto the end,” instead of “enduring to the end.” This is because we must believe in Christ until the end. If we endure in keeping the commandments, we will be able to have the Spirit always, thus we will remain faithful. We must have faith in order to be obedient to the end. Christ also says we must repent of all of our sins. he says this after He says we must be baptized. This is because we must endure to the end in repentance. We will all sin after we are baptized. Consequently, we must repent of our sins even after baptism. Christ loves us and wants us to follow this formula.
Verse 20: We are not simply asked to follow this conversion process, we are commanded to follow it. We must do this in order to receive the blessings of the plan of salvation. This is the commandment that missionaries carry to all those whom they contact. That way, no one can claim ignorance of the commandments.
Verse 21: This is Christ’s good news. We are commanded to do as he did. As missionaries, and a priesthood (Melchizedek) holders, we are commanded to do the works which Christ had done. By doing so, we show forth the power of God.
Sept 15, 1990
I am impressed to write that I have noticed the number of times that faith and love are used together in the scriptures. We must have faith in Christ to be able to love one another. We must love Christ because we have faith in Him. Faith and love are almost inseparable in meaning or application. Anyone that we love, we also have faith in. This faith we show is what enables them to love us.
Today we went and saw Ntsuab, the girl who had had 3 brain surgeries. She is looking so good that I cant believe it. I gave her a blessing before the third surgery that she would lead a normal childhood. The father thanked me when I saw them yesterday 9sept 14) for saving her life. I told him not to thank me, but to thank God. We taught that family the 5th discussion today. The problems is that Elder Jasperson won’t challenge them for baptism. I don’t know why. I think he might be afraid that they will say no.
He has also decided that he wants to be transferred next month. He’s not going to change the way he does things or the way he thinks, even if it’s not working, so I guess it’s just as well.
We went to a hmong wedding today and a Hmong “baby shower.” At the wedding, we sat a the bargaining table and drank Coke while everyone else drank beer. Wow, they drank more beer than I could stand to drink Coke.
While at the wedding, I met a man who was the second in command of the Hmong forces in Laos. That was kind of cool.
Sept 16, 1990
Today’s Reading 3 Nephi 27:22-
Verse 22: this verse is just concluding the remarks by pointing out the requirements for salvation aforementioned and the rewards for obedience to these requirements.
Verse 23: It never occurred to me that perhaps not all of a person’s spiritual insight should be recorded. I am fairly certain that I have not written anything I shouldn’t have, but I will be more cautious of that in the future. Christ wanted His words to be written so that they would be preserved unto us in this day. in the same way, we must write the things which we see, hear, do and learn, so that they may be preserved unto our posterity.
Verse 24: This is a commandment to continue writing in the plates, so that Mormon could abridge the records of the people and produce this wonderful book of scriptures- THE BOOK OF MORMON.
Verse 25: This explains the reason for studying the scriptures and for spreading the gospel. We will be judged according to our obedience to the principles set forth in the scriptures. Because the scriptures are available, we are responsible to read them. At the last day, if our works are not in line with the scriptures, we can not say, “I didn’t know.” We have been given scriptures and our works must be in accordance with them in order to be saved.
Verse 26: The Father writes all of our actions and works. Therefore, out of the books that are written- the book of life, and books of scriptures, will we be judged. If the book of our life and the scriptures are in accordance with one another we will be saved. If not, we will not be saved.
Well, today was not an overly uplifting day, but it wasn’t too bad either. We were at church from 10;00 am- 5:00 pm. Oh, what fun! I’ve never really liked being in administrative meetings, but as a missionary, I have to be there, but I have no authority to even give my opinion except when asked. Even when someone asks, they don’t really want to know. Anyone who knows me will know immediately that keeping quiet in administrative meetings causes me a great deal of stress.
We visited one family tonight. That poor woman has 14 children! No wonder they all ask why my family is so small. That absolutely amazes me! 14! She also said she had anther one, but he was “crazy” so they gave him away. That makes a grand total of 15! They must have run out of names too. One is named Romeo and another is named Wonderful! That poor kid!
I’m not too sure what else to write. Elder Jasperson is kind of in the same old groove as before. I would really like to have a companion who wanted to baptize so badly that he would do anything, say anything, and try anything!
Time for bed, and this boy is TIRED!
Sept 17, 1990
Today’s Reading:3 Nephi 27:27-
Verse 27: Christ is telling the twelve disciples that they will be the judges of the people. It is also true that missionaries will judge the people that they taught. In order to be judges in Israel, we must live our lives as Christ lived His. As missionaries we must keep all of the rules and commandments so that they people that we tach will have no excuses in the next life. When we judge people, it will be according to the guidelines which Christ shall give us. We will simply act for Him as judge in the same way that we act for Him in teaching the gospel. The priesthood gives me the power and authority to act in His name, both as teacher and judge. I don’t think there is anyone on this earth who truly realizes the full power of the priesthood.
Verse 28 Anything that we ask the Father in the name of Christ, in righteousness, will be given to us. The reason Christ did not say in righteousness, “is that his 12 disciples were living very close to the Spirit and He knew they would have righteous desires. The reason we must pray in the name of Christ is that He is the only one who earned the right to pray. The rest of us lost that right through sin. Only through His name do we have the right to pray. What a wonderful gift from Christ- the ability to talk to God!
Verse 29: The Lord requires us to ask before He will tell us things, in most cases. Yet, all He wants us to do is ask. He wants us to show a desire to know, and put forth some effort to find out. When the Lord answers us, there are many ways He may do this. Enlightening our minds, through the scriptures events in our lives, whisperings to our heart, voices of church leaders, actually speaking to us, or visiting us in visions. All of these ways and many more can be used to help us know what the Lord wants us to know.
Well, today was P-Day! I would have to say that p-days are not the most exciting days of the week, but it sure is good to be able to write letters, make tapes, and just kind of kick back a little bit. I would guess that Elder Jasperson doesn’t figure on changing a single thing. He is just going to keep on going, same as always, and wait to get transferred, That is really too bad because we won’t get much done over the next few weeks.
Tonight we went on team-ups with the Spanish speaking Elders. I was supposed to go with Elder Grigg and work with Spanish people, but none of the appointments worked out. We were supposed to meet back at 7:30, but Elder Jasperson didn’t get back until about 10:15. So I spent most of the evening waiting around. That was so good for me. I love to sit around and wait. I never stress at all when I’m just sitting around AHHHHHHHH!
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