Goals

Without a vision, we are left to wonder.

   

 It was my high school year when my parents decided to put me on the swim team. I swam all my life, ever since I was little in Guatemala, swimming has always been one of my strongest sports. However in the swim team in high school, I did not take the sport seriously. The swim team would practice, in the morning around 5:00 am, until 7:00 pm, and then we would have an afternoon class starting at 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm. For me at the time, I was less than exited to wake up extra early in the morning to go swim and then spend the rest of my time at school and then again go to practice for another 2 hours. However I decided to go to the afternoon practice instead, this being my first year in the high school team, I started off being in the first lane where all the new swimmers meet. However I was faster than them, and I would watch them struggle to try to keep up with me. I would often hear the other swimmers talk about, how much they want their time to drop, and how exited they where for competitions against the other schools. But for me, I could honestly care less. My coach would encourage me to come to the morning class from time to time, but I never did. 

It got to the point where I would not socialize fully with the swim team, I would wear my jacket showing I was part of the team, but only for bragging about it. After a couple of weeks, I started to notice something interesting, the other swimmers seemed less tired, and more energetic. After a few months, a lot would pass me, leaving me behind and some even moved up lanes to be with the fastest swimmers in the school. I was angry with them, wondering why they have gotten faster, if I been swimming longer. Eventually I was left in the first lane with only 3 other swimmers, who also would come to practice from time to time. And I saw the other swimmers, be with the fastest ones at school. And after a swim competition, my coach would tell me, he was not even paying attention to how I was swimming. Later on, my mother took me out of the swim team. And I left with the feeling that I never even joined. 

Another similar situation happen to me, when I first applied to what would be my first job. It was almost summer, and I was turning 16 years old. My father suggested me to become a lifeguard at a water park called, Seven Peaks in Provo Utah. I was super excited. I always wanted to be a lifeguard, and I could imagine myself being one. When I first got interviewed I wore my best clothes, washed my face, practiced, and showed up early. The interview went great, and I got asked to join a class where I would learn how to do CPR and use equipment and do the swim test. I said I would join the class, and about a week later I found out the classes where one week, from 3:15 pm to 7:45 pm. Basically the swimming part of the exam was a peace of cake since I was on the swim team, and I ended up being one of the first to finish it. However the written exam was a struggle for me. We got two chances for each test, and there was three tests in total. I was never good with tests, and unfortunately, I failed all of them in my first try. Me being disappointed in myself, I went on the last day to try to retake them. I studied and studied and marked as much as I could, I prayed and tried to find any way to help me pass those test. I wanted to become a lifeguard, and that was my main focus. I went and took the first exam, and passed! Then I had a small break, and during that break I had other people helping me study for the next one. I took the second one and passed. I was excited, but the third one was the hardest, so I studied even more. I took it and just had enough points to pass. I was proud of myself, I felt accomplish and I took the job proudly. I even worked there the following summer and managed to save a couple of lives. 

            

 So what changed in those two situations? 

In my experience with the swim team, I had no goal or no vision, and with me being a lifeguard, I had the exact opposite attitude. So what are your goals in life? Do you have a vision for yourself in the future? Why are goals so important in our lives? 

    Goals helps us become what we want to be

   It's true not all goals will be achievable, but that's why we need to make realistic goals, and we won't know if we'll succeed unless we try. I had a couple of friends at school during my high school year, that could care less about going to collage and all they wanted was to just finish high school. Unfortunately many of them now are in a dead end job where the money they earn pales in comparison compared to the money they would have earned if they would have gone to college. 

To get the most succes out of our lives we need to set those goals and have a vision of who we want to become. Vision leads to action, and without a disire, we will only stay in the same spot until we die. Goals can also have the most disappointment in our lives, but that's why we learn from our mistakes. 

  There is a story would like to share by Elder Ballard 

    "Fifty-eight years ago I was asked to operate upon a little girl, gravely ill from congenital heart disease. Her older brother had previously died of a similar condition. Her parents pleaded for help. I was not optimistic about the outcome but vowed to do all in my power to save her life.

Despite my best efforts, the child died. Later, the same parents brought another daughter to me, then just 16 months old, also born with a malformed heart. Again, at their request, I performed an operation. This child also died. This third heartbreaking loss in one family literally undid me.

I went home grief stricken. I threw myself upon our living room floor and cried all night long. Dantzel stayed by my side, listening as I repeatedly declared that I would never perform another heart operation. Then, around 5:00 in the morning, Dantzel looked at me and lovingly asked, “Are you finished crying? Then get dressed. Go back to the lab. Go to work! You need to learn more. If you quit now, others will have to painfully learn what you already know.”

Oh, how I needed my wife’s vision, grit, and love! I went back to work and learned more. If it weren’t for Dantzel’s inspired prodding, I would not have pursued open-heart surgery and would not have been prepared to do the operation in 1972 that saved the life of President Spencer W. Kimball."

Elder Russell M Nelson 

   We all had that vision as kids, we all wanted to be a firefighter or an astronaut, and then we grew and our hopes for some of us changed. Let's not give up, and let's try our best because if we do, then we will know how far we can really get in life. 

Prophets- Family Councilors from the Lord

                          What picture comes to mind when you think of the word "Prophets"? Old bearded men in robes, kindly pastors, or lightning bringers? Maybe something like this?

Would you consider going to someone like this for family advice?

                    Our Heavenly Father has organized the human race into family units. Our family will be the source of some of the greatest joy we will feel in our lives. That isn't to say that the they will be without their problems, but they have been divinely ordained to be the means through which we can grow and learn in a loving environment. 

                    There is safety in numbers. Since the beginning of time humans have found shared ideals and joined into societies and countries. At the foundation of every strong society there have been strong families. Happy families and peaceful societies are ideals, and despite the reality of trials in life they are achievable ideals. So how can we achieve this? We are ruled by simple laws of cause and effect. It is easy to determine some of them such as gravity because the effects from it are so immediate. It is more difficult to determine others such as the proper way to raise a child because it isn't until they are older that we see what worked.
 

                   To teach the harder-to-distinguish principles of happiness, The Lord provided two means of communication for us. The most readily accessible of the two is the Holy Ghost. Everyone has the potential to receive direction from the Holy Ghost if they will be humble and receptive to his inspiration. Consider the following verse:
                   "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)
                   If you have a concern or question you can pray to our Father for guidance and He promises to provide it. The answers we receive from the Holy Ghost are firm, but gentle. Unfortunately, due to our nature of being "hard of heart"(Mark 10:5) we often miss those subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost. We shake off those little feelings and try to do things "our way" instead of the Lord's way. Our Father in Heaven knew we would need a plain and simple way to receive undeniable instructions from him and so he provided us with prophets.

                  This following verse,  found in Deuteronomy, is specifically about Jesus Christ, but it is instructive to help us understand what makes prophets special:
                  "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him" (Deut 18:18)
                  Prophets such as Moses, Abraham, and the 12 apostles are unique for the simple reason that they were chosen by God to be his mouth-piece. No one can simply choose to be a prophet; they need to receive that authority from the Father. (Heb 5:4). Prophets are righteous men who have developed great faith and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. They record scripture as dictated to them from God and teach the gospel to the world.

                    The Lord has always worked through his chosen servants and he continues to do so. (Amos 3:7). So how do we learn from the prophets? In biblical times, a prophet might travel from city to city or write epistles to the believers scattered thought the world. In our day, The Lord has instructed that twice a year, the Church should gather and hold a meeting for the world to learn from the prophets. This meeting is called General Conference. The most recent general conference (as of this post) occurred in the first week of October, but don't worry! Thanks to modern technology, we have the privilege of watching it over and over again! I will include a link to general conference at the end of this post, But before you run off to learn from messengers of the Lord I want to explain a few final things.
                      I started by talking about families. The reason for this is because prophets were not sent for any one country or type of religion or people. Everything God gives us is to strengthen the family. I testify that our Father in Heaven knows about the things that trouble us. He knows our fears and needs.  He has prepared the prophets to speak words of comfort and council.

                      In order to take advantage of this blessing I want to give a couple suggestion that will help you get as much as you can from this conference. The first suggestion is this; come with a question.

         For example
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-10-1020-ryan?lang=eng&category=topics/revelation&cid=HP_FR_9-18-2015_dPTH_fMLIB_xLIDyI-1_

                     Come with a question and actively seek your answers and you will find them. The second suggestion is after you have found your answer, pray to our Heavenly Father to confirm the answers through the Holy Ghost. You will know you have come to the right conclusion when you feel the Fruits of the Spirit "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians5:22-23).

                     The link below will take you to the conference which took place over the space of three days. While I would encourage you to watch all the sessions you can also make your search for answers more specific by clicking on "Topics" which will help to narrow down your search. The talks sometimes have jargon unique to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, if you are ever confused by anything please leave a comment or message and we will try our best to answer and clarify.

           Come with an open mind and a humble heart and learn from the Lord's chosen servants

                                               ~~October 2015 General Conference~~
                      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/10?lang=eng

The Little things in life

As we grow up, those little moments and fears become who we are. 

    There are a lot of moments in our life that create a change in the way we view things or see them, it can even affect our actions. Sometimes the smallest moments can make the biggest differences. 

When I was younger around my junior high years, my father and mother decided for read the scriptures as a family. At first for me it was pretty uninteresting, at the moment i would think it was a waste of time. Yet my parents would still read the Book of Mormon and the bible. That small moment where I would not even join every day, helped me understand more about the doctrine of Christ, as well as helping me connect with God. Now I love the scriptures, and I want to do the same with my family. Something as missionary I learned to do, was to just do simple nice things with the companions I serve with. Like cooking them breakfast or ironing their shirts, it really just made our day more edifying every time I did it. Yes it is true that a lot of times we forget those small moments in life, but we only forget if we chose to forget them.

    

 

       

    

    Doing simple activities of service and love can really impact our own lives or somebody else's. For example helping the poor, that can change the way our lives are, we can have more love toward other people. When we where children, we can probably remember our saddest childhood story, and it's probably something we cannot forget. But how about the happiest childhood memory? Can we think of one? When somebody showed us love or when we received help when we thought nobody would?

What if we do nice things to others to just give them a better day? I remember once when I was a kid in Guatemala, how me and my cousins from my fathers side of the family, would always playground, either outside or inside. Eventually when I moved to Utah, those memories still existed, and when I returned after 9 years, I could still remember those little memories, and I still saw my cousins as my best friends. 

       

     I remember when I was a child I told myself I was going to pray every night to God. The first time I did it, I sleept well and because of that small action I pray every night before I go to sleep. Sometimes we want to have huge memories, like going to parties or doing somehting completely insane, and when I was in high school everybody else wanted to accomplish something crazy so that they can remember it for the rest of their lives. But are those memories really necessary? I can be honest I remember more the times when I went camping with my family, than spending time at the pool with my friends. Let's make memories the right way, let's make them something that we are proud for doing. Yes we can have fun with our friends but let's also make memories with our families otherwise when they are gone, we will be full of regret. My father also once shared me a story when he was on a mission in Guatemala. He said he once saw a boy and him and his companion walked up to him and asked "are you a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints?" The boy then answered "no" then they asked him "do you want to become a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints?" He boy then said "yes". My fathers companion then looked at him and asked him "should I just baptize him in the river?" And my father told him "no we don't have his parents permission." Instead they gave him a blessing, telling him that when he gets older he will find the church again.  Years later after he came home and lived in Texas his companion sent him a message reminding him of that story. And because of that small little action he was able to remember the joy he felt on the mission. He then sent me this picture. 

                      

      Let us slow down our fast moving life, and let us enjoy the small peaceful moments we have, and if we do, then our lives will be more at peace. Let's try to be good people, let's be kind, let's help others and those memories will always make us smile when we look back at them. 

Enjoy the videos :)