Surprise!

If you're anything like me, you might be wondering why I'm sending an email, today, a Thursday. 

Well the answer is that our preparation day was moved from Monday, to today, a Thursday. 

So this has been quite a week. Our apartment is way different now, since two of its occupants have been replaced with two new occupants. Other than that, there's been a lot of craziness, and tiredness. 

So President Russell M. Nelson, the prophet, came to the Arizona Cardinals stadium on Sunday. It was really cool! He spoke to a group of almost 70,000 people. And Ron and Nancy, a couple we're teaching, came with us to that. So that was really good for them. They're doing really well, and Ron is going to be baptized later in the spring. So that's super exciting. 

Another thing from a couple weeks ago actually, was that we were given a bag of lemons. It's cool because lemons actually grow here on trees, rather than in grocery stores like in Michigan. And so I made fresh lemonade one night which was kind of hard to do, but it was fun. It was kind of weird though because apparently the lady who gave us the lemons, got the lemons from a box that was sitting outside with a sign labeled "Free Lemons" because even though she doesn't like lemons, she took them inside because she "didn't want the cat to get them." She didn't say whose cat it was. The lemonade was good though so it's probably fine. 

Also there's this stuff called "Aloe drink" which sounds kind of gross since it is indeed the same aloe that is used for making the stuff you put on sunburns. However, I tried it and it actually tastes a lot better than the stuff you put on sunburns. 

And now is the time you've been waiting for. The "Spiritual Message of the Week."

So to keep it short, I will just share a really great scripture. It is found in the New Testament, in the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, in the fourth chapter, in the thirteenth verse. It says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." And I just want to say how true that is. And to add onto it, there is a scripture found in the Book of Mormon, in the book of Ether, in the twelfth chapter, in the twenty seventh verse. And it says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

That scripture adds a lot to that idea of Christ strengthening us I think. Because I've been thinking a lot about that idea in Philippians 4:13. I really want to be strengthened, and I know it's through Christ that that can happen. But how does that really work? And Ether 12:27 has given me some more insight on that. And of course there are still things I'm trying to learn and understand. For example, what does it really mean to "Come unto [Christ]"? That's an excellent question that I would invite you all to ponder and study about. But something I have realized is that being strengthened through Christ like Philippians 4:13 talks about, isn't always a big miraculous strengthening moment every time we need it. Of course there are times where that is the case. But between those experiences, the Savior wants us to take action so we can actually learn and grow and so that our natures can actually change, and so that our weaknesses can actually be turned into strengths.

To illustrate this idea, think of strength in the physical sense as I tell you this analogy: Imagine I am not a very physically strong person, that'll be hard I know. And imagine that I am in an emergency situation like a house fire. And the firefighters are all busy, and I just happened to be riding my bike past the scene, and so its up to me to rescue the person trapped inside. So I quickly lock my bike onto the nearest lamppost, make sure I'm not wearing my favorite tie, and then with an admirable amount of courage I run into the burning building. Soon, using my keen sense of hearing, I hear something that gives me reason to believe that the person is in the living room. It's a distressed voice that calls out, "Help I'm in the living room!"

And there I find a man who is trapped under an unusually large and understandably hot bookshelf. I see this bookshelf and I know that I will not be able to lift it on my own. But I believe that in a situation like that, God could give me physical strength beyond my own to lift the bookshelf. And I could then carry the man outside of the burning house as explosions go off behind me and it would be really cool and cinematic.

 

At this point, if I then decided I wanted to be a firefighter, I would have to do a little more than just wait for the next big miracle every time I needed it. I would have to actually do some work and exercise. Then I would be gaining skills and gaining strength. And don't forget that this is just an analogy for spiritual strength. Because as much as Christ would like to take away our problem for us right away, even more than that He wants us to learn and grow in spiritual strength. It's like the idea of climbing a mountain. He might not take the mountain away, but He will help us climb the mountain. There we go. That was a way more effective analogy than the firefighter one and it literally took one sentence. Anyway, that was a lot of jumbled thoughts, but I have a testimony of how Jesus Christ really can help us turn weaknesses into strengths. I've learned so much and I've grown so much because of my Savior.  

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love His Church.

Write to you on Monday!

~Elder Oswald