An Apostles Testimony of The Atonement

As a missionary one of the things I really enjoy is the fact that every single morning we have a chunk of time set aside for studying the scriptures and the words of modern day prophets and apostles. This morning, I came across a story about the Savior and His atonement, that I had read before, but had kinda forgotten about, and I think that it deserves re-telling, so I'm gonna share it. It's an experience as told by Elder Orson F. Whitney, who later served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but this experience happened to him while serving as a missionary.
He said: "Then came a marvelous manifestation, an admonition from a higher source, one impossible to ignore. It was a dream, or a vision in a dream, as I lay upon my bed in the little town of Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I seemed to be in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior's agony. I saw Him as plainly as ever I have seen anyone. Standing behind a tree in the foreground, I beheld Jesus, with Peter, James, and John, as they came through a little wicket gate at my right. Leaving the three Apostles there, after telling them to kneel and pray, the Son of God passed over to the other side, where He also knelt and prayed. It was the same prayer with which all Bible readers are familiar: ‘Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt.’
As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was [turned] toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I wept also, out of pure sympathy. My whole heart went out to Him. I loved Him with all my soul and longed to be with Him as I longed for nothing else.
Presently He arose and walked to where those Apostles were kneeling—fast asleep! He shook them gently, awoke them, and in a tone of tender reproach, untinctured by the least show of anger or impatience, asked them plaintively if they could not watch with Him one hour. There He was, with the awful weight of the world's sin upon his shoulders, with the pangs of every man, woman, and child shooting through his sensitive soul-and they could not watch with him one poor hour!
Returning to His place, He prayed again and then went back and found them again sleeping. Again He awoke them, admonished them, and returned and prayed as before. Three times this happened, until I was perfectly familiar with His appearance—face, form, and movements. He was of noble stature and of majestic mien … the very God that He was and is, yet as meek and lowly as a little child.
All at once the circumstance seemed to change, the scene remaining just the same. Instead of before, it was after the Crucifixion, and the Savior, with the three Apostles, now stood together in a group at my left. They were about to depart and ascend into heaven. I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him.
I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stopped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real that I felt the very warmth of His body, as He held me in His arms and said in the tenderest tones: ‘No, my son; these have finished their work, and they may go with me; but you must stay and finish yours.’ Still I clung to Him. Gazing up into His face—for He was taller than I—I besought Him most earnestly: ‘Well, promise me that I will come to You at the last.’ Smiled sweetly He said: ‘That will depend entirely upon yourself.’ I awoke with a sob in my throat, and it was morning.
'That's from God,' said Elder Musser, when I related to him what I had seen and heard. 'I do not need to be told that,' was my reply. I saw the moral clearly. I had enver though of being an Apostle, nor of holding any other office in the Church, and it did not occur to me even then. Yet I know that those sleeping Apostles meant me. I was asleep at my post-as any man is who, having been divinely appointed to do one thing, does another."
I love that story, for many different reasons, and there are many different things we can learn from it. But at least for me, I love the imagery that comes to mind when he is describing the Savior. The love that Christ has for each and every one of us is so apparent. That's why He performed the atonement, cause He loves us so much, and wants us to return to Him. Also I really like when in the dream, Elder Whitney asks to return and live with Him in the end, and Christs response is "That will depend entirely upon yourself." Our Savior wants us all to return, and has showed and prepared for us the way that we can do that, but it is entirely up to us individually to follow His teachings and accept His gospel, and once we do that, THEN is when His atonement can have a fuller impact in our lives. Elder Whitney's remarks at the end about how he felt he was "sleeping at his post" is very applicable to us as well. The Lord has asked each of us to do certain things, for some it's different than others. We all have our duties, and the important thing is that we find out what the Lord wants us to be doing, and then to Do It! With all our "heart, might, mind and strength," and not to be "sleeping at our post."
I know my Redeemer Lives, and He is aware of us! His atonement can and will have a lasting impact on your life, if we do what He has asked, and follow His Doctrine, (3 Nephi 27, 2 Nephi 31) as it is found in the Restored Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If we do, He will bless us, and strengthen us, so that we can do whatever it is He asks of us.

All Things Denote There Is a God

You know, growin up the way I did around horses and cattle in Southern Utah, and Northern Arizona, has taught me a lot of lessons about life. I've spent a lot of time on top of a horse out in the middle of nowhere, and when it's just you and your thoughts, you have a lot of time to think. Those times, added to a lot of time spent with my dad on the long ride home at the end of a day of work, has made me realize how much our Heavenly Father loves us. My dad would always make some kind of comment about how pretty the scenery was, or how you don't see a sunset like that everyday, and how lucky we were to be living in the time, and place we were. Well me bein the smart aleck teenager that I was, always had some kind of stupid remark to go along with it. I guess I never really appreciated the little things in life. A cool drink of water at the end of a long hot day. Or a cool breeze here in there when you're workin hard, a red-rock canyon covered in snow in the middle of winter, or the young calves in the spring runnin, and jumpin around. Those little things, I never really appreciated till now. Now that I've been away from home for almost a year and a half, I think I'm finally beginning to see what my dad had been so grateful for all those times. This earth, and everything in and on it, is just another reminder to me that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us so much. I mean, they made this earth for us, as a place where we could grow, develop, and have the experiences necessary for us to become more like them, and return to live with them again someday. To me this earth is just one more "evidence" you might say, that there is a God.

The prophet Alma, in the Book of Mormon, taught this when he was speaking with the anti-Christ, Korihor, who challenged Alma by saying "...If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words. But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these they brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.....Will ye deny all these witnesses?" (Alma 30:43-45)

We do have a loving Father in Heaven, who created this world so that WE "might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25) He cares for us, and is aware of us each individually and is ready and willing to help us if we will but pray to Him. I don't know how anyone could deny that with "all these witnesses." He created this world for us, as a testing and proving ground and if we are faithful, and endure to the end, we can return to live with Him through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that!

God's Words Never Cease: The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Continuing R...

Brightness of Hope

This painting, entitled "Why Weepest Thou" from the artist Simon Dewey, is one of my favorite portraits of the Savior. It portrays Jesus Christ and Mary in the Garden of the Empty Tomb, with Christ stretching out his arm to down to her to lift, and comfort. I love this painting because for me, it is a great reminder to me of my Savior's love for me, and for all of us. He is always there, reaching down to us, to lift and comfort us in our time of need, to wipe away the tears, as the scripture says.
In life, we all will face times of doubt, despair, sorrow, tragedy, sadness, and failure. Whether from our own mistakes, or others, we all will. It's just the name of the game. Those things are the opposite of Hope, which is what Christ can give us, through His Atonement. He can do that, because he knows exactlly what each of us are going through, and understands perfectly, as only He could.  In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma explains how this is possible. He said "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.... and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people..." (Alma 7:11-13) In the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the Cross of Calvary, Christ suffered for not just our sins, but also for, like the scripture said, our pains, afflictions, temptations, sickness, and infirmities. He has felt everything that we have ever felt, and will feel, and therefore knows exactlly how to help us, and He is more then willing. I like how in that verse he says He knows how to "succor" His people. Succor means "To help, or to run to the aid of." Christ is always extending His arm down to help us, is willing to run to our aid, as long as we invite Him into our life. Like Peter in the New Testament when we walked on the water towards Christ, but when his faith wavered, he slowly started to sink. He called out, and Christ lifted Him up. Just like us, sometimes in life our faith can weaken,  and we start to sink, but christ is always there, offering hope through the Atonement. His Atonement can have a huge imact in our lives, if we let it, and can bring us great hope in this life. Another Book of Mormon prophet, Moroni, explained this when he taught "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ...and this because of your faith in him..."
I know that as we exercise our faith in Christ, by keeping His commandments, and living His gospel, our faith increases. And as our faith increases so does our hope. I know that He lives, that he guides and directs this church, and that he speaks to living prophets today, even as He did in olden times. I know that as we come to Him, and lay our budens at His feet, that He will give us peace, and that "brightness of hope" that only He can give.

We Must Go Through

Ok, so this is really the first time that I've ever done a blog, so I'm still kinda gettin the hang of it. But today, I'd like to explain a little bit why I chose "We Must Go Through" as the title for my blog. But, first I'd like to begin with a little bit of a background history lesson on the famous Hole-In-The-Rock expedition.
In the year of 1879, John Taylor then Prophet, and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, called a group of 236 people from the Southern Utah towns of Parowan, Cedar City, and Paragonah, to be a part of the San Juan Expedition. A pioneering company that would go and settle in what is now the south-eastern corner of the state of Utah. At that time, that was some of the isolated and inaccessible country in the nation, with lots of sandstone, cliffs, mesas, washes, slickrock, sand, and cut in many places by deep canyons. Keep in mind, that a good chunk of these pioneers called to be a part of this expedition, had already crossed the great plains from Nauvoo, Ill, and other parts of the country to settle there in Utah, had just barely gotten settled, started to prosper, and now were asked to leave it all behind.
Not to mention, they had already endured many many hardships on the initial treck to the Rockies. Bishop Jens Nielson, who was called to be one of the leaders on the San Juan expedition, had crossed the Great Plains as part of the Willey Handcart Company. When rescuers from Salt Lake arrived they didn't have shoes big enough to fit his rag-bound feet. While struggling over Rocky Ridge, his feet froze so bad that he couldn't go on any farther. At one point he turned to his wife Elsie, and said "Leave me by the trail in the snow to die, and you go ahead an try to keep up with the company and save your life." To which she responded, "Get in the cart and ride, I can't leave you, I can pull the cart." Which she did. So to say that the pioneers had already faced adversity would be a terrible understatement.
The company took established wagon trails to Escalante, and then from there on out had to blast their own trail into the slick rock the remaining way. Their biggest obstacle came when they reached The Colorado River. The 2,000 ft. gorge had to be crossed somehow, and the snow had finally come which blocked their way home, so their only choice was to find a way across.  It took them six weeks to build the road across. Built by chiseling and blasting a path through a steep crevice named the Hole-In-The-Rock, the construction consisted of cutting away a 40 foot drop off at the top of the crevice, moving huge boulders, leveling high spots, filling depressions, and widening the crevice walls.  After they made it past the first drop off, and reached the first ledge,  they were faced with another sheer wall of fifty feet. A narrow ledge for the inside wagon wheels was chiseled out along the walls. Just below the narrow ledge, holes were drilled every 2 feet parallel and about five feet below the ledge. Stakes were pounded into the holes, and then covered with logs, brush, and gravel to form a road that was literally tacked onto the side of a cliff. That section of the road was called Uncle Ben's Dugaway, named after a Welch miner, Benjamin Perkins.
The road was finally completed, and on January 26, 1880 the wagons started down.  Elizabeth Morris Decker, wrote about the trip down. "If you ever come this way it will scare you to death to look down it. It is about a mile from the top down to the river and it is almost straight down, the cliffs on each side are five hundred ft. high and there is just room enough for a wagon to go down. It nearly scared me to death. The first wagon I saw go down they put the brake on and rough locked the hind wheels and had a big rope fastened to the wagon and about ten men holding back on it and then they went down like they would smash everything. I'll never forget that day. When we was walking down Willie looked back and cried and asked me how we would get back home." The settlers continued on and eventually settled the towns of Bluff, Verdure, Blandin, and Monticello.
The quote I mentioned at the very beginning comes from Bishop Jens Nielson when the company had first reached the Hole-In-The-Rock, and many wanted to turn back. But Bishop Nielson remained calm, and is credited with saying. "We must go through. Even if there is no way through, we must go through."
Their story has a lot of meaning to me. I didn't have ancestors were with that company, but I did have many who came from Nauvoo to Utah with Brigham Young. I am in awe, and so grateful for the things that all of those early pioneers faced. Their lives have been a lesson to me. Even though they were faced with so much adversity and trials, they never quit. Never gave up. They forged on. It kinda puts my life into perspective a little bit. If they could face everything they went through with an eye of faith, then my personal trials and struggles, which pale in comparison, I should face with that same determination.
I know that the Lord strenghens us in our extremities if we will but call on His name. He knows us each individually and lets us face opposition so that we can learn and grow. He has felt all of our pains, our sorrows, and our affliction, and therefore knows how to help us. (Alma 7:11-13) Sometimes lifes struggles seam to much to bear, but the Lord is there for us. I just hope that I can follow the example of those early pioneers, and when faced with things that at the time, seam to much to handle, say, "Even when there is no way through, I must go through."

I added pictures of The Hole-In-The-Rock, from the top, and also looking up from Lake Powell, and also Uncle Ben's Dugaway, which shows the holes drilled and used for the road.

"...With Healing in His Wings"

President Dieter F. Uchtdorff, part of the first presidency of the church, once told a story about how "one woman who had been through years of trial and sorrow said through her tears, 'I have come to realize that I am like an old 20-dollar bill—crumpled, torn, dirty, abused, and scarred. But I am still a 20-dollar bill. I am worth something. Even though I may not look like much and even though I have been battered and used, I am still worth the full 20 dollars.'” 

Life isn't easy all the time. We all make mistakes, and we're all gonna end up kinda like that 20 dollar bill. But no matter how bumped and bruised we get from the world and our mistakes, we're all still sons and daughters of a living, loving Heavenly Father, and we're worth something! He knows us each individually be name, I know that, and because of that love, he provided a Savior for us, Jesus Christ. That through Him we can have eternal life in the life to come, and peace and healing in this one. Christs invitation to all of us is to come unto Him, that he may heal us, and bring us peace and rest, no matter what kind of shape, or circumstance we're in. (Matt. 11:28-30, 2 Nephi 25:13)

If ya want to read the whole talk from President Uchtdorff, I attached the link to my wall on Facebook.

Have a good one!