Today, we spent a lot of time in a very few places, and spent a long
time at each of them, but this time, I didn't feel too bad about it.
We started off the day by going to M shimai's, and T Shimai and I had
a moment of shared keiji. We were teaching F Shimai and to open, I
felt like we needed a hymn to share the spirit. I was like, "Let's
sing a hymn." My companion chose the hymn, and it really touched her
heart. It worked really well.
Before we went to M shimai's, we dropped off at a place that sells
hamburgers. They looked really legit--and were expensive enough to
have been, but the buns were a little rubbery, and the patty was more
like a large beef strip. I... was disappointed. It was a good
sandwich, but it was certainly no hamburger.
Afterwards, we kept a cute little old lady company, then we went to
F shimai's. Before we went, my companion, warned me that F shimai
was someone who likes to ask questions but doesn't receive the answer
with her heart and refuses to listen for Holy Ghost. And when we met
her, I received largely the same impression.
I told her that God lives and has revealed the path to happiness. That
struck her interest. She was like, "Eh, what is that?"
Me: The path to living happily is called commandments.
Her: *Face falls*
Me: God never breaks the commandments.
We described that because people, when they keep the commandments,
experience these blessings, they convert. They understand that when
they keep the commandments, they're happier because they've lived
without keeping the commandments and they understand the difference.
Her: So what you're saying is that because they know the difference,
they understand that the commandments make them happy.
Me: *seeing where she's going with this* Yes, that's exactly it.
Her: What that sounds like to me is that you need to experience both
ends of the spectrum.
Me: Haha... If I told you that pounding your head on the street would
make you unhappy, would you believe me?
Her: Yes.
Me: Even though you've never done it before?
Her: No, but I've had other experiences when I've hit my head, and
that was painful.
Me: Good. We are all imperfect. We all sin, and that makes us sad. We
don't have to break every commandment to know that sinning makes us
sad. At some point, you just have to trust God.
We don't have to go looking for sin. All of us happen to be human,
and, despite our best efforts, end up sinning anyways. We make
mistakes. And, mind--we don't have to learn from our own experiences.
We have been blessed with the scriptures, worldwide media, and a
conscience to tell what will and will not make us happy. We don't have
to kill someone to know that everyone's happier without killing
people. We don't have to tell rumors about people to know that it's
good to not tell rumors. We don't have to smoke to know that it's bad
to smoke. We don't have to reinvent the wheel every time we make a
decision. A dear friend of mine shared a favorite quote with me:
Wise men learn from experience. Fools, from their own.
Now, there comes a point when we're asked to make a jump, even though
we don't see the other side. Our dear F Shimai brought it up.
Her: Well, I don't know why God would ask someone to sacrifice their own child.
Us: Are you talking about Abraham's sacrifice?
Her: Yes. Why would God do something like that?
Us: That's a good question. That's a very good, very important
question. We can answer that next week, but in order to prepare, will
you pray every day this week? We could tell you the answer, but you
will never understand if you do not build a relationship with God.
Without faith, no one can ever truly understand the commandments.
Her: Back to faith...
Us: Yep. You don't have to believe everything right away, but if you
believe that it would be nice to believe, if you think that there is a
possibility that God could be out there, that's the first step. So
will you pray every day this week to start building a relationship
with God?
At one point, we're all backed up against the wall of faith. We don't
know why God asks us to do what He asks us to do, and sometimes we
don't like it. Sometimes we think it's a bad idea. We don't have
enough money to pay tithing, we've tried a million times before to
quit smoking, and a billion other very real, very serious problems.
Sometimes we don't understand why God asked us to not drink green tea
when it's one of the most popular health supplements in America.
When that point comes, do you shut down? Does it rule out every other
commandment in the book? Is the Bible no longer real? Is God no longer
real?
Look back to the commandments you did understand, look back on who you
understand God to be. Understand who God wants you to be, and what he
knows you can be. The commandments are not to restrict or bind us, to
repress or oppress us, to halt our happiness or to shame us.
God knows you. He knew you before you were born. He gathered your
intelligence from the darkness and gave you a spirit body to call your
own. You learned to trust and to love him, and he trusted you. He
saved your spirit for billions of years, teaching you how to come back
to Him. He knew this world would be hard and dark and dirty at times,
but He trusted you. He trusts you now.
Before the earth was created, you promised God that you would keep all
His commandments because you knew that it would make Him happy and
because you knew that it would make you happy. You knew that the
commandments would point you to Christ and that Christ would bring you
home.
The first night I came to Okayama, my first area, my trainer and I
hopped on our bikes and biked through the dark to an investigator's
house. She made a wide turn around a corner and I followed her because
I trusted her more than myself. It wasn't until I was comfortable
enough to look down to notice that there were 3-foot-deep gutters on
either side of the road. I was convinced, and still am today, that if
I hadn't followed my companion, I would have fallen in.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways
saith the Lord."
So when that happens, when you're scared or in doubt, when you don't
like what you've been told to do, choose the higher way. I don't have
all the answers, but "I know that God loveth his children." And I know
that He wants you back in his arms. I know that he's not the only one
waiting for you in heaven. And I know that you won't regret it.
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