leave a mark

Whew!! Is it July 28th already? I have been gone sooo much and have been so busy!

Sorry for the blog negligence! :)

So first of all, I left for FIJI on July 2nd and it was the Most. Amazing. Trip. Ever. It was so fun and I was so sad to have to leave! The people there have so little and yet are the most content, happy people ever! And the ward there was awesome! So many fun people!

I am away from home (yet again) in California at the moment, so I won't share too many pictures. It is just a pain to upload the pictures because my internet is reeeeally slow right now! :)

Chilling on the beautiful beaches



 

Baptisms at the Suva temple

 Me with Harrilea and Junior

 

Me with village kids

 

Some of us with a bunch of the ward's youth

 

At a school in the village

 

Working on the bathroom

 

Finished toilet and septic tank!

 

Me with David

 

We had so much fun serving the people, playing with the kids, learning about the culture, swimming in the ocean, making new friends, participating in church activities, and doing other fun things like seeing a movie and going to McDonalds! Tell your kids to save/fundraise for a HEFY (link) trip!! It is the most incredible organization ever!

 

It was so neat to see such a different part of the world. It helped me to be a more rounded person and gave me new perspectives. You guys, be grateful for what you have!!!

I was also reminded how much God loves everyone.

People! YOU. MATTER!!! And if you are ever feeling down on yourself, try serving others. Be a light to other people and make their lives better. I promise you, it will make you feel important when you spend your time being an instrument in the Lord's hands.

I heard something interesting when we were at the temple doing baptisms for the dead. The temple president came to give us a little thought before we got started, and I love what he said. He read off a few of the names of people we would be getting baptized for and shared their birth dates and where they were born. He reminded us that they were real people who lived and breathed and until now probably thought they had been forgotten. He got a little emotional and pointed out that these people are probably never thought of anymore, never mentioned. Who knows - their names being spoken in the font may be the first time they've been mentioned in years and years.

I don't want to leave people forgotten. I want to feed Christ's lambs. I want to serve Him forever and ever. I want my friends to feel like I love them. I want to make sure that I leave this life having given everything I could possibly give.

I want to rescue people. I want to strengthen Christ's army. I want to leave a mark on the world - leave a mark in heaven.

This is my purpose, and this I will do.

I truly could never share enough about my experience in Fiji. But it didn't end in Fiji.

There are people here who need me. And most definitely people here who need you.

“Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great purpose in heart.”  - Gordon B. Hinckley

You guys are awesome. I'm really stoked to start blogging a lot again. I'm just spending time with family here in California, but when I get home the summer should start winding down and I can get myself back into a good blogging routine!

Have a lovely day!

Haley

a stone of stumbling.

I shared this quote in a devotional I did in seminary the other day (from my favorite talk ever that you can read here)...

"I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work—and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times—until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies. If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without honestly attempting to account for the origin of those pages—especially without accounting for their powerful witness of Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on what is now tens of millions of readers—if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived; and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is what Christ Himself was said to be: 'a stone of stumbling, … a rock of offence,' a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work. Witnesses, even witnesses who were for a time hostile to Joseph, testified to their death that they had seen an angel and had handled the plates. 'They have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man,” they declared. “Wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true.'"

-Jeffrey R. Holland

Okay so I know that was a long quote... but so good, right??

I underlined my favorite parts... oh, and you really should hear him give the talk. He is such a good speaker. I'm sure you could find it on youtube... the talk is called Safety for the Soul. 

So I wanted to do a post on the Book of Mormon because it is just such a blessing in my life and a major - and often misunderstood - part of our gospel.

I love this picture. 

You know, people sometimes find it hard to follow the Book of Mormon and don't learn from it the way they could. 

Ha. Who am I kidding? Me included.

But the Book of Mormon is so cool. It is a history book. 

Something I think is so cool is that this great book - well - makes perfect sense. 

Let me explain. We believe that the Book of Mormon is the record of the people living in the Americas in ancient days... The Old and New Testaments - the Bible - aren't set in North or South America. But people were there. 

And after Christ was resurrected, He appeared to them. 

It's such a cool record - and explains what went on among the Ancient Americas. See? History book. We just got it later than we got the Bible. 

Until 1827, the records were simply buried in the ground. 

I mean, even thinking it out logically it still makes sense to me. And reading it - praying about it - just seals the deal. 

When I went to Nauvoo and later to Kirtland visiting some church history sites, I learned a little about a group of people that broke off of our church a long time ago because after Joseph died, they didn't believe Brigham Young was a prophet. They created a completely separate church from ours that still exists today. 

Anyways. My point in this is that that church still claims to believe in the Book of Mormon. They were selling copies, in fact. 

There are so many things wrong with this in my mind. ha. But one thing I thought was interesting was that those people still didn't deny the Book of Mormon. Even if they don't practice their religion in the way I believe the Book of Mormon teaches - they don't deny its truthfulness. 

One of my favorite parts of the very first quote was when he said that to leave this church you would have to crawl over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make your exit. 

The witness of Jesus Christ it contains simply Cannot. Be. Denied. Because of this, it should act as a barrier. 

I guess they wanted to leave the church, so they took the Book of Mormon with them! Dumb loopholes. jk haha.

And now, in our day, this precious, absolutely true book is being attacked from all sides. 

So what do we do about it? 

I love one action the Church took. 

They bought ad space in the Broadway show The Book of Mormon's play books. 

They sought out a way they could make this a somewhat positive thing. And I have to say, I think those ads are pretty sweet. 

Anyways. Don't get all ticked off. People just don't know. 

So explain. Understand. Share your testimony. 

Because a testimony of the Book of Mormon is something I wish everyone could have in their life.

So be grateful for this wonderful book! Try to see it as a history of your people (whether they are technically your ancestors or not)!

See it as a blessing from God. An undeniable truth. A constant in your life. 

And you will be so incredibly blessed and learn so much. 

This I know. 

And I promise you can know too.