Last week I was posed a very interesting question by a friend of mine.
He asked, "what do you say to someone who is less active? What would
you say if that person were me?" Today I would like to address
everyone who is less active in the church. These people who once were
happy in the church and have since become more complacent with their
worship. President Uchdorf gave a fantastic talk this last conference
about this topic which I would encourage each of you to read
regardless of your activity in the church.
Today I want to respond to that friend of mine as well as responding
to each of you, my dear readers, as I am sure that at one time or
another you have pondered that question for ourselves as well. So what
do you say when someone you care about has turned away from the
church? How do you remind them of the things they once help so dear?
How do you be bold and yet help them understand how much you still
love and care about them? Catch 22 right? Yeah. It is.
Here are some tips that I have come up with for what to do/say-
1. Have them read Alma 5. This chapter of the Book of Mormon is
amazing for making you reflect on your level of conversion. One of my
favorite questions posed in this chapter is, in my own words, will you
be happy on Judgement day with the decisions you are making today?
2. Remind them of Spiritual experiences that they once had. Joseph
smith said concerning his vision of God the Father, "I knew it and I
knew that God knew it and I could not deny it" (Joseph Smith History
1:25). Many of us have amazing revulatory experiences that we know are
from God, but then we go on to gradually forget about them or even
begin to justify within ourselves that it is was "just me" or
"endorphin" or even coincidence that was making us so good. Help your
friends remember their spiritual experiences of the past. Help them
remember the conviction they once had to never deny the thoughts and
feelings they once knew were from God.
3. Remember that many people step away from the church because they feel guilty for making mistakes or even feel judged by other members of the
congregation. I would like to remind those people that the church is
not a home for saints but it is a hospital for sinners. We all
sin and we all feel guilt for sinning, that is what makes the
Atonement so amazing. We can have that guilt removed! "Just as chalk can be removed from a blackboard, with sincere repentance the effects of our transgression can be erased through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That promise applies in every case." (Boyd K Packer 2013)
So the fact of that matter in all of this is that it's all about their choices. They are the ones that need to let the Spirit act within them. They are the ones that have to listen to those quiet promptings. They are they ones to make the changes. Our job, is to help them in whatever way we can and love them. Never give up. Their time will come, whether in this life or the next, it will come.
I want to end this with a quote from the last General Conference, "My
dear brothers and sisters, if you ever come across anything that
causes you to question your testimony of the gospel, I plead with you
to look up. Look to the Source of all wisdom and truth." (Look Up
Elder Adrian Ochoa October 2013)
Nuggets of Wisdom from an LDS missionary
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Differences
On Sunday, we had a lesson with a woman who kept asking what is the difference between our church and every other Christian religion? Today I would like to tackle that question but because it is a very broad topic, I am going to stick to the basics.
The main differences I want to focus on are that;
1. We claim to be God's one and only true church on the earth today
2. We believe we have the priesthood (or power to act in God's name) authority
3. We believe that priesthood was restored by Christ's original apostles, Peter James and John, to a modern day prophet who passed it down to the prophet we have now
4. We believe that in order to once again live in the presence of God, we must make and keep promises with Him here on earth such as being baptized by someone holding His authority
5. We believe that we all have the ability to have God answer all of our prayers.
So the super super short explanation of the priesthood and our claim to it goes as follows-
God loved His children so much back in ancient times that He game them prophets like Abraham, Isaac, Noah and Enoch to guide the people. He gave the prophets His authority (the priesthood) so that the people could get baptized and have eternal families and stuff.
Unfortunately the people would get so wicked that they would not listen to and generally even end up killing the prophets and their apostles so that eventually they would have killed off everyone who held the priesthood. But! God still loves His kids so when they were ready He always called a new prophet to lead the people back to Him. With the new prophet always comes the priesthood so that the same ordinances (baptism, sealing families together etc) could be.
Every prophet testified about Christ. Christ was the perfect example for us. He showed us how to live a good life and what things we need to do in order to live with Him again. He set up a they way He wanted His church ran and he called people to help him run it (apostles). He loved us so much that He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He was killed for us. He also was risen again for us.
Sadly enough, the people were still hardhearted. Even to their Messiah. They killed him and His apostles just has they had so many times in the past and thereby the priesthood was once again gone from the earth. But! God still loves His kids right? Yes! Absolutely! So when we were ready, He called a new prophet just like He had in times of old. He restored His priesthood and told a boy named Joseph Smith and told how He wanted His church to be ran. That church is still run the exact same way as it was in Joseph's time. It is still lead by revelation from God to His prophet.
Here is a more in depth explanation of how the church came to be. There are TONS of scriptures and stuff that support what I've said, but I really don't feel like typing them out. There are in the link though so check that out.
The last point that I mentioned above it our ability to pray to know for ourselves. Do it. I've talked about it before. It works.
The main differences I want to focus on are that;
1. We claim to be God's one and only true church on the earth today
2. We believe we have the priesthood (or power to act in God's name) authority
3. We believe that priesthood was restored by Christ's original apostles, Peter James and John, to a modern day prophet who passed it down to the prophet we have now
4. We believe that in order to once again live in the presence of God, we must make and keep promises with Him here on earth such as being baptized by someone holding His authority
5. We believe that we all have the ability to have God answer all of our prayers.
So the super super short explanation of the priesthood and our claim to it goes as follows-
God loved His children so much back in ancient times that He game them prophets like Abraham, Isaac, Noah and Enoch to guide the people. He gave the prophets His authority (the priesthood) so that the people could get baptized and have eternal families and stuff.
Unfortunately the people would get so wicked that they would not listen to and generally even end up killing the prophets and their apostles so that eventually they would have killed off everyone who held the priesthood. But! God still loves His kids so when they were ready He always called a new prophet to lead the people back to Him. With the new prophet always comes the priesthood so that the same ordinances (baptism, sealing families together etc) could be.
Every prophet testified about Christ. Christ was the perfect example for us. He showed us how to live a good life and what things we need to do in order to live with Him again. He set up a they way He wanted His church ran and he called people to help him run it (apostles). He loved us so much that He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He was killed for us. He also was risen again for us.
Sadly enough, the people were still hardhearted. Even to their Messiah. They killed him and His apostles just has they had so many times in the past and thereby the priesthood was once again gone from the earth. But! God still loves His kids right? Yes! Absolutely! So when we were ready, He called a new prophet just like He had in times of old. He restored His priesthood and told a boy named Joseph Smith and told how He wanted His church to be ran. That church is still run the exact same way as it was in Joseph's time. It is still lead by revelation from God to His prophet.
Here is a more in depth explanation of how the church came to be. There are TONS of scriptures and stuff that support what I've said, but I really don't feel like typing them out. There are in the link though so check that out.
The last point that I mentioned above it our ability to pray to know for ourselves. Do it. I've talked about it before. It works.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
My purpose
My purpose with this blog is to strengthen other people's faith in Jesus Christ. I will be sharing experiences I have had on my mission and throughout my life that have strengthened my faith as well as my personal relationship with my Savior. I would also like to dedicate this space to anyone who has questions that they would like me to answer. Feel free to message me on facebook or shoot me an e-mail at aubrey.winn@myldsmail.net and I will answer your questions the very best I know how!
Until then, the first thing I would like to share is how I really feel about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was raised in this church so of course I have loved it for a long time. I have also come to know of its truthfulness for myself. I have spent hours on my knees conversing with God and asking Him questions. I know that God has answered my prayers. I know that when I ask specific questions, I get specific answers.
The things I will be posting on this blog will be spiritual in nature so I will invite all of you readers to do the same thing I invite other people to do every day; don't take my word for any of it. Pray and ask God for yourself. That's how I have come to know the things I know, and I know that is how you will come to know as well.
Watch this little 4 minute video about this women's experience with prayer. It strengthened my faith, see if it strengthens yours.
Over and out!
-Sister Winn
Until then, the first thing I would like to share is how I really feel about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was raised in this church so of course I have loved it for a long time. I have also come to know of its truthfulness for myself. I have spent hours on my knees conversing with God and asking Him questions. I know that God has answered my prayers. I know that when I ask specific questions, I get specific answers.
The things I will be posting on this blog will be spiritual in nature so I will invite all of you readers to do the same thing I invite other people to do every day; don't take my word for any of it. Pray and ask God for yourself. That's how I have come to know the things I know, and I know that is how you will come to know as well.
Watch this little 4 minute video about this women's experience with prayer. It strengthened my faith, see if it strengthens yours.
Over and out!
-Sister Winn
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