Oh man. Oh man.

I love my New Testament class.

The instructor is fantastic and has superb mental images that he shares with us about how things work to help get points across. I think a large reason he is so good at it is because he loves art so much. He shares with us a new portrait or picture daily. It's so cool. Many of the pictures are exquisite, and all are very effective in portraying the lesson.

Mark 11:22 - And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mark 11:25 - And when you stand praying [in faith], forgive, if you have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mark 11:26 - But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

The instructor said that Faith = Forgiveness. One thing that gets in the way of faith is our inability to forgive.

1 Sam 25 - (History) King David did many services for Nabal, sent men to be nice to him and help him shear his sheep, etc. Then when David was in trouble, he sent men to Nabal to ask him for food. Nabal says (v 10), "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse?", refusing to help David. As David is the king, he gets extremely angry and goes to kill Nabal. Some servants tell Nabal's wife, Abigail, that David is coming for revenge and justice.

Here is her story:

v. 18: Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed...
v. 23: And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
v. 24: And fell at his feet, and said, 'Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be'
v. 28: 'I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid'

This is a type of the Savior. Abigail (Christ) took upon herself the sins of her husband (you & I, Christ's children), and when David (judgment) came to make its demands, Abigail (Christ) took responsibility for those sins and submitted herself to the will of David (judgment) so her husband (you & I) wouldn't have to.

When we repent of our sins, we give them to Christ. He takes upon His shoulders, all the mistakes of the world. When we transfer our sins to the Savior, He becomes guilty and the one who answers to Justice so we don't have to. Christ becomes the 'guilty' one.

Now, imagine: You are upset with a person. This person comes to you, falls upon their face, bows to the ground, and says 'Please forgive me.' Now. Imagine this person is the Savior. This is what He does. He takes upon Himself the sins of the people around us, then comes to us and asks us to forgive Him.

Can you imagine? The Savior falling at your feet and saying, "Please forgive me."

What would you say to Him?

"Oh my goodness! Of course! You're the Savior. Get up. Get up. Of course I forgive you."

... ... ...

Something to think about.

Maybe we can't forgive a person. They abused us. Abandoned us. Betrayed us.

But the Savior has taken their sins upon Himself - just as He has taken ours. So it's not about them anymore. It's about Christ.

Can we forgive Christ?



The tree in my grandparent's backyard. I love this tree, I used to climb on it all the time growing up. Good memories.





A closer look at the same tree. Those apples look simply marvelous, don't they?



(This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just like it. It's my cat-Triss.)

All Things Work Together for Good by Elder James B. Martino.
Reminded me of the talk 'Come What May and Love It' by Elder Wirthlin

"We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from the experience." Each of us has and will have experiences in our lives that will shape us into the person we are going to become. Positive or negative, if we remember that these experiences are to help us grow, our growth becomes accelerated and enhanced.

Elder Martino shared this story:
     When I was young I looked forward to the spring of the year. As the weather warmed, i was ready for baseball to begin. Like most young boys, I would wish that I could become a great baseball player. I am reminded of a story about a very young boy with similar dreams. With the desire to become the next mighty ballplayer, he decided to go outside and practice. He held the baseball in one hand and the bat in the other, and he threw the ball into the air. With a wish to hit the ball as far as he could, he took a great swing, but the ball fell to the ground without even touching the wood of the bat. Not to be denied, he went at it again. As he was about to throw the ball in the air, he determination grew as the thought of a powerful hit came into his mind. But alas, the results were the same. The ball lay on the ground. But as any good ballplayer knows, you have three strikes before you are out. He concentrated even more, threw the ball int he air, and gave the mightiest swing he had ever attempted. As the ball again fell to the ground, the tears began to swell in his eyes. Then all of a sudden a great smile appeared, and he said, "What a pitcher!"

Most of the time when we think of all things working together for our good, it is because we have been talking about the trials we have in our lives. "Even though times are hard, it will be ok and everything will work out right." But we don't usually talk about the good things that happen in our lives and how they accumulate and build and work together for our good. In the story about the boy playing baseball, it most certainly was not a negative experience. It wasn't a trial. It was an event that happened in his life that he chose to face with a positive attitude. (Which is probably a great predictor of his future.)

We can change our attitudes as he did during both positive and negative experiences. Or in experiences that are really neither, and allow them to become positive experiences. I'm a huge believer that everyone can be happy while on this earth. Yes, things are tough and sometimes unpleasant, but we have not been sent here to suffer. We have been sent here to learn, sometimes through tough times, but (hopefully) more frequently through positive times.

I have always found it interesting when at the end of the day, when asked to recall how the day was, I sometimes focus on the negative and say it was just ok or ever rough. Even if there was only one thing that 'went wrong', that situation always jumps out at me and becomes a huge thing that ruined my day, even if it really didn't. Difficult experiences can help us learn and grow. They can help us draw closer to God and utilize the tools he has given us efficiently and effectively because we realize the impact his precepts have in our lives.

But God doesn't want us to have to suffer to draw closer to Him. Our God is a loving God, and I believe that he would rather have us become closer to Him during our happy times. Unfortunately, as we've seen repeatedly in the scriptures, as soon as a people began to prosper, they became prideful and forgot the Lord their God. A great cure to this is gratitude - thanking the Lord daily for all of the little miracles and blessings that we receive in our lives. Someone once said, "Expect a Miracle Every Day." I took this to heart, and take time every day to look for the miracles that God has given me. Sometimes my miracle is a running car to get me to campus in the rain and snow. Sometimes it is having a pillow to lay on at night. Sometimes it is a person that reaches out and touches my life in inexplicable ways. I've noticed that the earlier in the day that I find my miracles, I always find more of them. This then creates in me a strong feeling of gratitude for all of those miracles and blessings, and draws me closer to God. I challenge each of you to look for the miracles that God sends you daily. It can be as little of a miracle as waking up on time for work, or something as huge as receiving a much needed hug from a friend. But I promise that as you look for and especially notice those miracles that God will send you more and you will be brought closer to him.

For example: Going to Vernal for Taylor's mission call. SO much stress. Driving six hours, snow and wet on the road, getting home super late, waking up late for class, not eating all day, etc etc etc. It seems as though this would have caused me nothing but grief. But then I remembered how spiritual it was - being there for him to open his call. I remembered that spirit and was able to be grateful for everything God had given me. I got home late - but I was safe. I woke up late - but made it to class on time. I didn't eat - but had enough energy. I looked like crap - but danced really well. I wanted to cry - and got an amazing and much-needed hug. Wow. So much to be grateful for. So many miracles. And all of them working together for my good- to lead me closer to God.

In Elder Martino's talk, he mentions five things we can learn from the last hours of the Savior's life on earth that can help us to face our own trials. 1 - He sought to do the will of the Father and remained committed to His sacred mission.  2 - He did not complain or murmur.  3 - He sought greater help from God. Even the Savior found a need to pray more earnestly in the Garden of Gethsemane.  4 - Learn to serve and think of others. What greater act of service is there than the Atonement?  5 - Forgive others and do not seek to pass the blame of our situation to them.

I love action words. Remember 'Faith without works is dead'. So you need action for your faith to be fruitful. The action words are: KEEP an eternal perspective, DO NOT complain, BECOME more prayerful, SERVE and FORGIVE others.

I know that most of us are going through trials right this second. I don't pretend to know what it is you are feeling, but I know that the Savior knows. He doesn't want you to suffer - he suffered for you already. He wants you to learn and grow from your experiences and stay close to Him. On the other hand, some may be thinking, "How does this relate to me? I'm not going through any trials right now. Life is great." Elder Martino encourages those of us to use these steps to prepare from future trials so that when we are faced with those trials, we are already prepared to turn to the Lord and ask what we need to do to best learn from Him.

All of our experiences, good and bad, are to lead us back to our Father in Heaven. he wants us to be happy and to become more like Him so that we can receive exaltation, which is the greatest happiness of all. Remember the good times during the bad ones. Look for the daily miracles that each of us are given. Become more prayerful and serve and forgive others - even though that is sometimes the hardest thing to do. Serving others will bring joy to your life. The Savior has promised that.

Remember that the good times are for your growth and experience just as much as anything. Don't let the good times pass you by just because you feel like you finally got a break. Learn all you can during the good times to prepare you for the hard ones.

I know Christ lives and that He loves me. And I am grateful for the good times that are working together for my own personal good and growth.

Every Wednesday, I am blessed to not have a single class. It is a beautiful time and very happy. I enjoy going to the temple early in the morning, coming home, and sleeping the day away. It's great.

But this last Wednesday (the 27th of October) was a little bit different.

I went home. To Vernal. In the snow and wet.

I went home to see my brother. Why? Because he was going to get his mission call.

I know what you're thinking: "What the heck?! Taylor is old enough to be serving a mission?!?" Trust me, I feel the same shock that you do. Mostly because if HE is old enough to serve a mission that means I'm...well...really really old.

So I drove three hours on wet roads and got my car filthy dirty just so I could watch my brother open an envelope. I know. I'm crazy. But that's love, right? Appropriate sibling love, I mean. Of course.

I got home early in the afternoon and did a few things (visited Sunburst & my lovely family there, went to lunch w/ my sister, got my eyes checked) and then settled down to wait for the call to come.

About four o'clock, the mail still hadn't come. My sisters and mom started freaking out about it not coming. Dad called and said he had heard from a very reliable source (the mail man's wife) that the call was on its way. Then mom started freaking out more. It was really entertaining.

To pass the time, Larissa printed a couple of maps off of the internet and we started making guess as to where we thought he would go. Each family member got to make a guess in the U.S. and outside. The maps looked something like this:



Yup. The beautiful envelope arrived.

We all felt the package trying to decide if there was a big packet inside or not. Larissa said yes, Dad said no. I had no clue.

Then we settled down to wait for Taylor to get home from work.

He finally walked through the door and the first thing Megan does is hand him the call, so of course he takes off to his bedroom! We were so mad.

He saunters out with a big grin on his face. I told him I had driven three hours to watch him open that stupid envelope and if he had done it without me, I would never ever forgive him.

He grinned at me.

Finally we found the call and got him in the family room to open it for us. Dad pulled out his phone and video taped the whole thing. It was stressful. Taylor thinks he funny. But he isn't. He just likes attention.

















It was good fun. Very spiritual despite the yelling that went on trying to get Taylor to stop skipping around the call: "You have been called to serve in the... ...You are to report to the Provo MTC..." ARGH! Much frustration. But very spiritual. It was incredible.

Taylor then said he couldn't pronounce it. Dad looked, and freaked out. So of course, all the girls went insane. It was so intense!

Taylor: "Ko-be?"
Dad: "Kobe."
Mom: "What...?"
Taylor: "Japan."
All: "NO WAY!!!" squeals, screams, 'oh my goodnesses' etc etc etc

It was incredible.

That's right. My brother is going to serve a mission in Japan. The Japan Kobe mission. Wow. I can't believe it. He is going to be amazing. He leaves January 26, 2011. I'm so excited. So so excited.


Of course the ONE and ONLY picture I ever get of him smiling... I'm not. *sigh* So goes life.

Congratulations Elder Pearson! You're going to be great out there! I love you!

Signing out.
Me.

PS. This is a great picture:



I LOVE MY FAMILY!

PPS. I am never driving to Vernal and back to Orem in the same day again. Ever.

Katie: Hey! What happened to Blogging?!
Me: ...oh ya... I'll do that... Eventually.