April 4, 2016

Hey guys, this week was pretty slow. I loved conference though, my
favorite talks were Elder Holland, Bednar was just pure doctrinal
gold. He teaches with such clarity. Anyway, we did a lot of finding
this week, a lot of bashing. My goal with each area is to become good
friends with as many pastors as possible, so when I knock on these
doors, and people say "I go to such&such church" I can tell them I
know their pastors. It's my favorite bridge building activity.

Well, I got nothing else to talk about, so here is a little bit of my
study journal this week,



Things that may not seem logical, can be slowly revealed as we
continue press forward in the Faith of Jesus Christ. Nephi had faith
and trusted that this is what the Lord wanted him to do, so he did it.
Things slowly began to make sense.

1 Nephi 4
In verse 10 it talks about what happens when we begin to doubt. Nephi
used the word "shrunk" appropriate for this occasion, when we begin to
doubt, we begin to lose power. The spirit spoke to him, and instead of
shrugging it off, he listened, and he was taught by the spirit. This
is the principle that was noted in verse 7. The Lord prepares away, he
wants me to obey.

V14 The spirit presses feelings to the mind, and to the heart. Nephi
began to remember his past experiences with faith, he also remembered
the blessings that the Lord promised him.

Do I remember the blessings the Lord promises me in times when my
faith is being tried by temptation? Yes, whenever I am tempted,
-whether I acknowledge it or not- The spirit whispers "I need you
today, stay sharp" or "you know that I can't be with you if you do
that" or my favorite one is "What about your future? You know what
will happen after you fall" The Lord really does prepare a way for us
to accomplish his commandments. The Holy Ghost teaches, testifies,
invites, promises blessings, and in the moment of temptation it
follows up. It follows up in the darkest hours, it pulls on our hearts
when we do things that we know are wrong, it prompts us to go a
different way. The best way to have the spirit more abundantly is to
act on those promptings.


V32-34 Nephi was able to teach Zoram the commandments of the Lord, and
Zoram knew that Nephi was faithful in keeping the commandments, he
knew that he was man of the Lord. He could trust that this was the
right thing to do.




Elder Jared M. Greenburg
Missouri Independence Mission
Fleming Park Ward