Mormon Bloggers

Do you ever have those days when everything you do seems to go wrong?  Well, for me, the past several months have seemed to be like that, especially the last couple of days (including today)  Seriously, I think that I am one of the most accident-prone people alive.  I just seem to attract trouble in everything that I try to say, accomplish, and try.  Just as an example, I was with some friends last night and we were all trying to walk across this tightrope strap that was strung between two trees.  I tried a couple of times in turn with everyone else and my balance skills were evidently lacking, which I have always known were minimal in my life and seemingly worse since my health concerns during my mission in the Ivory Coast (for more about that experience see My Exodus from the Ivory Coast).  Well, the third time I tried to walk across this rope was definitely the charm as the saying goes but it was not in the positive way.  I hopped up on the one end... Read the rest of this entry »

Just about a week or so ago, I was feeling a little stuck.  I think that we have all been at a point where we feel so uncertain about ourselves.  Self-doubt is something that Satan really uses in our lives to hold us up and make it so that we can’t get anywhere.  While I was feeling this way, I was reminded of an experience that I had last year.  My companion and I were heading upstairs just after lunch, and we usually take the elevator in our building up to the top floor since that is where we work.  It seemed as if it would be a normal, regular day, but things didn’t quite work out that way.  As my companion and I got into the elevator, I hit the button for the fifth floor while my companion went to lean back in the corner.  As we were approaching the fourth floor, my companion shifted his legs and hit the back wall of the elevator.  At that point, the light indicating what floor we were on went blank and we stopped moving. Yes, that’s right;... Read the rest of this entry »

“Sure!  I can do that for you!  No problem!”  I have frequently found myself saying things of this sort to pretty much everyone that comes to ask me to do something, but in reality, is it not a problem?  I can’t number all of the times that I have been tempted to tell someone “No, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to help you with that right now,” but I always ended up saying yes and trying to help everyone.  Have you ever faced something similar?  Do you find yourself wanting to say tell someone no, but you end up telling them yes anyway?  Now, I really don’t think this is such a terrible thing.  In fact, I want to help everyone that comes to ask me for it, but the stark reality is that I probably can’t help everyone that asks me.  I’m really not perfect, and I’m unable to do everything that I really want. This idea of perfect is one that permeates our society quite heavily, but I think it is found even more so among members... Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve got a problem. I know you have a problem. Your family knows you’ve got a problem. Everyone seems to know you’ve got a problem. Everyone, that is, but you. What does one do in such a situation? How do we help someone who does not want to be helped? In Mosiah we learn that we are to mourn with those that mourn and bear one another’s burdens. How do we live that teaching, especially when the person who needs help won’t get it? The issue is that you are likely to come to me for help. But it will be help for problems that you could solve if you’d solve your core problem. But you don’t see the core problem. Or you see it and won’t do anything about it. King Benjamin teaches we ought to offer help whenever it is requested without judgment of the person seeking help. Does that mean I give the help I’m asked to give, or I try to solve the root problem? At least one of the reasons King Benjamin gives for his direction to help... Read the rest of this entry »

Why is it that we can never seem to prepare ourselves for difficult events that happen in our lives?  Even when we strive to be more on guard from what we faced before, I think that we are still taken aback when we have to face something newly difficult.  I have faced something like this the past week that I hoped never to have to deal with, and I won’t go into too many details but I find myself asking questions such as “If I had been more prepared spiritually and relying more on God, would things have happened like this?” or “If I had made different choices, would this thing not have happened to me?”  I’m thinking that these probably aren’t the best questions to ask myself, especially since they highly focus on what has already come and gone—things that I cannot change no matter how much I stew over them and wish that things had turned out differently. I have always thought that I faced some difficulties in my life that would prepare me for most things... Read the rest of this entry »

So I haven’t written a post for about a week now, and it has been largely because quite a number of changes filled this past week up so that I was quite busy.  We had transfers here in the Referral Center mission this past weekend since Elder Edmons went home on Monday and Elder Baird is heading home this upcoming Friday, so that was one of our changes.   I am now serving with a new companion Elder Sabin, and with this companionship change, I am now one of the co-district leaders for my mission.  The typical mission has various districts with 4-6 missionaries, and then there is a zone with usually 2-3 districts.  To go along with these different groups of missionaries that receive different types of training from various leaders, there are usually two missionaries that are assistants to the President and help oversee the other zones and districts.  So since our mission only consists of 10 missionaries right now, we only have one district with two co-district... Read the rest of this entry »

Languages . . . there are so many of them around the world, and they all are just a little bit different even if they often have the same roots or beginnings.  I have always enjoyed hearing other languages, and I always wanted to learn a language and be able to have a regular conversation with another person in that language.  When I was growing up, I started a basic beginner’s course on Spanish, on which I thought I did really well.  But after working through some Spanish for several years, I decided that it really wasn’t the language that I really wanted to learn, and I switched over to French when I got into high school. During the two years that I took French, I fell in love with that language, and I wanted to continue taking more of it.  However, other opportunities presented themselves to me in high school, and the last two years of high school, I didn’t really take any French.  I would be part of the French club and use little phrases here and there,... Read the rest of this entry »

The saying goes that all good things come to an end, and then, of course, we have the saying that this too shall pass when we encounter bad things in our lives.  So if we have sayings that indicate that all things come to an end at one point or another, it must mean that change is constant in our lives.  This is certainly something I have come to realize over my lifetime, but it has especially become real for me since high school as life has changed quite a bit for me.  Even during the past year of my mission, things have changed in many indescribable ways.  There have been big things such as my leaving the Ivory Coast (almost a year ago now, see My Exodus from the Ivory Coast), going to Canada, and coming here to the Referral Center.  But at the same time, there have been so many small little things that have helped me to learn and grow in ways that I cannot accurately describe.  My experiences over the past 17 months have been incredible, and change continues... Read the rest of this entry »

For my blog post today, I wanted to break the mold of what I have been posting for the last little while and just do more of a post with my thoughts about a more general topic instead of a discussion about a talk from our last General Conference.  So today I will be talking about something that has always been important to me, and I believe that it is a subject very important and dear to many hearts.  This past week I have come to see really how much other people care about me!  So many people have done wonderful little things for me that have really boosted my days and helped me see how much Heavenly Father is watching out for me.  I just wanted to share a couple of these experiences with you and how much they meant to me. So this past week, I received three brand-new shirts in the mail, and at first, I assumed that they had come from my family.  But upon further investigation, I discovered that these three shirts had actually been sent to me by an anonymous... Read the rest of this entry »

Food . . . we can’t live without it, but many times I think we wish that it wouldn’t taste so good or look quite so appetizing.  I know that for me I have always enjoyed eating a good meal.  And as I was reviewing Elder Jairo Mazzagardi’s talk from this past General Conference, I kept thinking about food and how it can totally apply to the idea that Elder Mazzagardi discusses.  His talk is entitled “Avoiding the Trap of Sin,” and he says, “We must be alert because small choices can bring great consequences, just as going to bed early and waking up early have great consequences.  Doctrine teaches us, “Arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” Those who go to bed early wake up rested, with the body and mind invigorated and blessed by the Lord because of obedience.”  He clearly illustrates how little things can make a huge difference in our lives each day, and to me, this ties perfectly into our eating habits and food... Read the rest of this entry »

I wanted to continue my posts today by looking at and commenting on another talk from General Conference.  This talk actually comes from the last session of Conference, and it wasn’t one talk that I was originally planning to talk about.  But after seeing this short video about a talk that Elder Robert D. Hales gave in a General Conference this past April, I felt that I needed to comment on both of these things.  Here is the Mormon Messages video of Elder Hales’ talk, and I think that this introduces the subject matter of this blog post quite nicely. Elder Hales’ talk ties in perfectly with Elder Larry R. Lawrence’s talk from the most recent General Conference where he talks about parenting as well.  His talk is entitled “Courageous Parenting,” and he focuses on the idea of parents being their children’s parents and not their children’s friends as I like to put it.  He says, “What the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and... Read the rest of this entry »

To continue on with my posts about the talks from this past, most recent General Conference, I have chosen another talk to continue to apply to myself, and I hope that you will all be able to get something out of it as well!  The talk that I have chosen today to reflect on is by Elder Patrick Kearon from the Priesthood Session of General Conference.  I got to hear this talk in person since I had the chance to go and sing in a choir from the MTC for this session, and it was also an amazing experience to be there and sing as well as listen to the talks of men called by God in person.  If you would like to read more about this experience, just take a look at High School Musical 4: Prophets and Apostles! Elder Kearon’s main message was about how we will make mistakes throughout our lives, but we can always be cleansed and become pure through the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ.  He started off by telling a story about one time when he was young, and he didn’t... Read the rest of this entry »