The Standard of Truth

"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecution may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame; but the truth of God will go forth boldy, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." - Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:540

Doctrine and Covenants, Section 4

"1) Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
"2) Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before god at the last day.
"3) Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;
"4) For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;
"5) And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
"6) Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
"7) Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen." - Doctrine and Covenants 4:1-7

My purpose as a missionary...

My purpose as a missionary is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptsim, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." - Preach My Gospel, page 1

15 November 2011

The Holy Ghost as a Translator

I want you to imagine something. Imagine you are in a conference room. You are surrounded by millions of people. Only a few people in the room speak the same language as you. The other people, you just can't understand them and they can't understand you because there is a language barrier. All you know is that you have a headset, and everyone else, you notice, has one as well. You see that everyone has put their headsets on, so you decide that you will put yours on too. Now, in the midst of all the confusion, a person stands at the front of the room. The commotion ceases. The person starts speaking in a language that no one, but the few people in the front of the room can understand. Instead, to you and everyone around you who can't understand that language, it looks like he is just waving his arms and hands around. Then you realize that you can hear a voice through your headset that is speaking in YOUR language.

This is what you hear: "Hello. It is a pleasure to see all of you here today. Many of you are probably wondering what is happening. I am using American Sign Language (aka ASL) because I am Deaf and that is my language. But because most of you probably don't understand ASL, what I am saying is being translated into different languages, so that each person in this room can understand what is being said."

What just happened? At first, you saw what was being said, but you couldn't understand it. Then with the help of a voice interpreter, you were finally able to understand what the speaker was saying.

This, my dear brothers and sisters, is one of the ways that the Spirit of the Lord can work with us. When we hear the Prophets of old and today speak, through the scriptures and through special meetings held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called General Conference, we don't always understand every single thing that is said, but with the Holy Ghost (the Testifier of all Truths), we can understand what is being said. The Holy Ghost "translates" what is being said into something that our spirits can understand.