“I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.” Of all the messages that could come from the scroll of eternity, what has he brought to us? Get a pencil. Where’s my notebook? Turn on every tape recorder in town.
He speaks:
I am the light and the life of the world; . . . I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of. the world, . . . I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.
That is it. Just a few lines. Only fifty-two words. “And . . . when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth” (3 Nephi 11:11–12).
This introductory utterance from the resurrected Son of God constitutes my only text today. I have thought very often about this moment in Nephite history. I cannot think it either accident or mere whimsy that the Good Shepherd in his newly exalted state, appearing to a most significant segment of his flock, chooses first to speak of his obedience, his deference, his loyalty, and loving submission to his father. In an initial and profound moment of spellbinding wonder, when surely he had the attention of every man, woman, and child as far as the eye could see, his submission to his father is the first and most important thing he wishes us to know about himself.
Frankly, I am a bit haunted by the thought that this is the first and most important thing he may want to know about us when ‘we meet him one day in similar fashion. Did we obey, even if it was painful? Did we submit, even if the cup was bitter indeed? Did we yield to a vision higher and holier than our own, even when we may have seen no vision in it at all?
As I pondered this this morning, I thought, what am I going to do at judgement day? Am I going to be so excited to tell all the good things that I have done in my life at judgement day or am I going to be beating around the bush because I know that I could have done better. As I write this, I think of fallow-up calls with our district leader every night. When we had a really good day, we are so excited to tell him all about our day and to tell him about who we saw and who we taught and talked to... But, on the days that we may not have taught as much as we are able, we tend to beat around the bush and focus on the one tiny good thing we did that day instead of being excited about the whole day. When I see my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, I want to be sure that I am excited about my whole life. And be so excited to tell them all the wonderful things that I did and to tell them that I was obedient in all of my doings and if I wasnt, that I am able to have Christ be my advocate and tell Heavenly Father that I repented from my sins and my shortcomings. I feel that if we do all that we are asked to do in our lives, that we should have no worries for when that judgement day comes. I know that as I continue to press forward and to be led and guided by my Father in Heaven that I will be able to stand at judgement day and say that yes, I did all that was asked of me and I was obedient. Of course, we all make mistakes, but that is why our Savoir suffered for our sins. So that we could stand at the judgement seat and stand before Him clean. So, this week, I invite you all to ponder the words that Elder Holland and think about the judgement day that you will have with our Father in Heaven and with our Savoir Jesus Christ. What can you do to better your life? What can you do to align your life with our Fathers will? I invite you to ponder these questions for the next few weeks. So, for those that will be at the house when I get home... that night, I plan on sharing a lesson with you all and these are some questions that I would like for you to ponder so that we can talk about them. And if you would like to read the talk, that would be wonderful. :) Come prepared! The missionary is coming home! Things are about to get spiritual up in the Halbison home! ;)
Well, I guess that I will give you all some details about my week. It was so much fun. I think that the best part of the week would have to be our luau. It was so much fun! It makes me want to go to Hawaii... Okay not really. I wanted to go to Hawaii before. We had a couple of performers. One was my companion, Sister 'Otukolo. She use to be a dancer at the PCC in Hawaii. She did so good! :) We also had some sisters that are serving up in Idaho Falls come down to dance. They did really good. It was a fun dace that they did. They also sang a song that was really pretty. We also had a little girl who is 10 do a dance that Sister 'Otukolo showed her. It was so cute! Her name is Zia. Her family is a part member family that we have been working with. The dad is Samoan and the mom is Native American. They are such a cute family. They even gave me an outfit to wear at the Luau! I felt super cute. Haha. So, for the luau, we had Brother Su'a cook two whole pigs! Well, he had some health problems so he had some helpers and he just supervised. But, it was so cool! Dont worry! I took pictures! :) Of course! Dont worry, I even did a selfy with the pig and Zek! :) Haha. We had such a good turn out at the luau. I would say that we had about 250 people there. Maybe more. It was a stake activity that Sister 'Otukolo had been planning since before I got here. Oh yeah, also for entertainment we had a bishop do the haka! haha it was so great! And if none of you know what the haka is, I suggest that you look it up on youtube haha. It is so awesome! :) We actually had a couple of investigators come to the luau it was so good to see them there. One of our investigators that we had dinner with on Monday (that I will tell you about next) came! Even though our dinner fell to pieces. Haha. It was great to see them all there.
So, now the dinner... Oh boy... Ahh Okay, so this guy is not a member and his wife is. I am not sure if I told you about him at all. But, his name is John Sutton and he is a bible basher. Like hardcore. Haha Anyways, we had dinner with him and his wife and it did not go well at all. I dont even know where to start. I wish I had my journal here so I could just take it from my journal. Lol. Anyways... Well, I will give you the short story. Because even the short story is going to be long. John was trying to prove the Book Of Mormon to be wrong and tell us all about the history of the Bible and throwing out all of these theories and I had no idea what he was talking about. He would ask me.. Do you know what this theory is... And I would just laugh and say no... Because, those that know me know that I laugh a lot... Especially when I dont know something. And lets face it, I know pretty much everything. Okay just kidding I dont. I just like to think that I do. Anyways... he told me that he felt offended that I was laughing and he went off on a huge rant basically saying that us missionaries know nothing and that we should not be out teaching the gospel when we dont even know about our own religion. He just kept going on and on and I felt horrible at this point. I wanted to curl up in my own little ball in a corner and just cry. It was not good. Haha. Well, his cute little wife, being the sweetheart that she is stood up for us little missionaries who dont know anything and she told her husband why we were out on missions and that we are away from our family for 18 months and she was so sweet about it all. Then, it was my turn... I apologized to him for him thinking that I was laughing at him and I told him that I was laughing at myself because I had no idea what he was talking about. and I told him that I did know that this church was true and even though I dont know the Bible as well as I should I still knew it was true because I have prayed about it. And I received an answer that it is true. Well, I continued to testify and then Sister 'Otukolo testified and then we were done with dinner... Thank goodness, and we were getting ready to leave and I asked... So, do you want us to come back? They just looked at each other and said, we will think about it. Haha it was so great! Okay, not really. But it was kind of funny after we left the house. I just felt horrible at the moment we were in there. So, that is the story about John haha. :)
Well, I wish that I could tell you all about our investigators and how they are doing but I dont have time. :( My time has come to an end. But Just so you all know, the work here in Blackfoot is continuing to move forward and it is going so great! I love the work and I love the area and the people! :) Well, I best be going. Remember the questions that I have asked you all! :) Stay amazing and I will see you all in just a few weeks! Again, I am sorry that I could not go into more detail about my week! Just know that it was great!
Love,
Sister Ashley Halbison
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