Look Up and Act Now!
Hey everyone! This week has been great! The first transfer is officially over and I can't believe how quickly this transfer (6 weeks) has gone! Time is going by so quickly and I have not been out very long and I already want it to slow down. The time I have been in Parker, Colorado I have been so grateful for all my blessings as well as those around me who have progressed and come closer to Christ. I love this area and the people here. My favorite thing about serving a mission is that I am able to see a glimpse of God's love for each and every one of his children, even those who are not so nice to us. I love everyone and appreciate that wonderful opportunity. This week my e-mail will be a little different. It will not be as gospel based and will be focused on something I have been impressed to share this week. On a mission as well as in life when it comes down to it, you really have two options - all other decisions I believe can fall under this. You can choose to focus on yourself or you can choose to focus on others both of which can be good.
You can focus on yourself and you may ask the following righteous questions: How can I do better tomorrow? How can I be a better missionary? How can I be a better husband or father? How can I be a better wife or mother? Don't get me wrong, these are all valuable questions but there is a better way and that is to focus on others. How can I help that person? How can I help that person become happier? How can I better provide for my family? How can I help those I work with? When you ask these questions (along with many others) there is one thing I have noticed between the two. Whichever you decide, I promise you that you will see a change in your life. You life has the capability to become better in both situations. The only difference is how happy you are with that change. When you focus on yourself, you may see the change, reach your goals, but you may still not be truly happy with the change. Through personal experience, I know that as we focus on others, we will see even more of our goals being achieved, and even ones we may not even know we set. We will begin to see a more spiritual change, one we could have never imagined. I know know that our Heavenly Father's plan, the Plan of Salvation (a.k.a. The Plan of Happiness) was created for us to be happy, I know that. PresidentBoyd K. Packer said "The end of all activity in the church is to see that a man and a woman with their children are happy at home, sealed for eternity" What father doesn't want his children to be happy? I know that not only does he want us to be happy, but he wants us to be happy now! Obviously some things require waiting, but you can be happy waiting for something. Dr. Elia Gourgouis had a conversation with a businessman and he told him that the key to happiness is success. He came back to him and said, "No, the key to success is happiness." Just think about that for a moment. You can be very successful and not very happy, in fact, Dr. Gourguois said that he knows plenty of people that fall into that category.
The Key to success is happiness. So now what is happiness and how can we become happier? The best description I have heard of this is the following: Happiness is when your expectations meet reality. Joy is when reality exceeds your expectations. This does not mean to set low expectations for yourself, this means to set goals to make you reach and achieve them. When you meet your expectations no matter what it is, you are happy. When you aren't setting and achieving goals, you are committing spiritual suicide, you are not going to get very far if you do not have a vision. Two of the best ways I know of to be happy is to continually have an attitude of gratitude and to serve. The way you do this is to always be thankful. When you are going through a hard time, you should always be thankful - when you are going through a good time, you should still be thankful. The best representation of gratitude I know of is in Luke 17:11-19 which is the parable of the lepers. 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that werelepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto thepriests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are thenine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. This Samaritan was just healed from leprosy and went back to Jesus to thank him. How many of us thank people for helping us? How many of us thank Heavenly Father for our trials?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 states that it is the will of the Father that we give thanks. Heavenly Father wants us to be grateful!
When we serve whether it be in the church or not many of us (including myself) serve because it is the right thing to do or because we believe it is our duty. When we serve we should be serving with our hearts. Serve with your Heart. Serve because you love the people. Serve because you love your Father in heaven. Do not serve out of duty - do not serve grudgingly. Serve with your HEART! I will leave how you will do that up to you.
My companion and I were able to sing in a choir in the Stake Relief Society Meeting. The last session the husbands of all the wives were invited so we were able to be there. Dr. Elia Gourgouis was the keynote speaker. He came up with an analogy to help each of us to reach our expectations. NIMBI. NIMBI stands for "Not In My Best Interest." He began saying it when people offered him alcohol, or when temptations arose. He then related it to the gospel. It is NIMBI for me not to follow the commandments, for me not to read my scriptures. He put it much better than I ever could, but I tried. Haha
Another way we can become happier is in our relationships. This all goes back to focusing on others. Regarding any relationship, think about "what can I give" rather than "what will I get out of this." This includes relationships with parents, siblings, loved ones, friends, extended family, and especially Heavenly Father.
What can I give to Heavenly Father? He wants us to be happy, he wants us to pray, to talk to him - He wants us to study the scriptures. When I say study the scriptures, I don't mean sit down for several hours and study the scriptures. I am talking about focusing on what you read that morning and APPLYING that in your life. Brother Gourgouis said that Knowledge without Application is just Education. This applies to so many different things but I am going to apply it to the gospel. If we are reading the scriptures but not applying them in our lives, then we are just learning, and we are not changing! I'm not saying that reading the scriptures is bad but that it is good and there are better and best ways to study the scriptures. Think about this, if someone came up to you and asked you what you learned in your gospel study that morning, could you tell them? Would you say "Luke....something" or would you say "I learned about the parable of the (fill in the blank) and I am trying to apply that in my life today"? I know I am being bold, but it is because it is something that I have struggled with in the past and have finally figured out how to put it into words. If we are just reading the scriptures and not applying it in our daily lives, what good is it really doing us? How can we expect a change if we don't act?
So now we know what happiness is and even some ways to achieve happiness; or rather ways to be in a progressive happy state or to be happier. Now, I would like to suggest a way that we can do that. ACT. Act now! Stop putting off happiness and joy. There is no perfect time to change, if you are waiting around for it, STOP. Stop putting it off. Create the perfect opportunity. Create it! You can do it! Don't let your dreams and your goals go to the grave with you. Why? That is something I can not answer for you. You have to find that for yourself. Find your why. Find why you keep going when it gets hard. Find why you push through the storms in your life. One of my favorite motivational quotes: "When you fall down, make sure you land on your back because if you can look up, you can get up!" How often are we looking down or even straight ahead. How often are we looking everywhere but up. Find why you get back up when you fall. Greatness is a lot of small things done well day after day. If you want to be great, pray everyday, read everyday, apply what you read everyday.
If you aren't where you want to be, look up and get there! Allow the pain you may be going through to push you.
Our ward mission leader told me that he came up with a saying while he was on his mission and I have been trying to apply it to my life ever since.
"I can do anything for x amount of time."
I can do anything for 2 years.
I can do anything for 5 minutes.
When times got tough he told this to himself and he still uses it to this day.
The greatest gift our Father ever gave us was the ability to choose for ourselves. Helaman 14:30 states:
"And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free."
We are free to choose! Choose to change, choose to become better. Choose to make a difference. Choose to be great!
I testify to you that the greatest example of focusing on others is the Prophet Joseph Smith. I testify that he did in fact see God the Father standing beside his son, Jesus Christ in a grove of trees behind his house in upstate New York at the age of 14. I know that he saw them and through them Joseph restored the gospel on the earth. Joseph went through many trials and many persecutions. When he was 38 years old, he was in Nauvoo, Illinois and knew that there was a mob coming after him and he actually got out of Nauvoo before he was taken into the prison. There were members of the church who followed him and told him to come back to Nauvoo to help the church at which point he said, "If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of no value to me." He decided to go back to Nauvoo where he knew he would be taken prisoner and later killed. In the last minutes of his life he went to the window and fell out of the window. Brad Wilcox mad a statement I completely agree with. He said that many have accused Joseph of going to the window of thoughts of escape. He said, "I believe that he did not go to the window with thoughts of escape. He knew that there were hundreds of members of the mob surrounding the jail. I believe he went to the window to draw the fire away from the others in the room. In his last minutes of life, he was thinking of others and their well-being." I can't imagine a more selfless act besides Jesus Christ suffering in the garden and on the cross. What happened in the Sacred Grove changed the world, let it change your life.
I know that as we focus on others we will achieve greater things than if we were to focus on ourselves. I have seen it happen and I know it can happen in your life. I know that we can be forgiven of all our sins through Christ's Atonement. There is an old african proverb that says, "If there is no enemy within, then the enemy outside can do us no harm." I know this to be true. I know that the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. I have felt that in my life and I know I am not alone. We all make mistakes. We all fall short but through his grace and giving service and focusing on others, we can not only be saved, but we are following the path the Savior walked while he was on the earth. He was the perfect example of being selfless. I invite each of you to serve someone everyday. It does not have to be something big, but focus on others instead of yourself and you will be blessed. I promise you that.
I know Jesus is the Christ and that He lives! I know and testify that he suffered on the cross and in the garden of Gasthemane for each and every one of us. He knows you personally. He knows your name. He knows your trials and your weaknesses, he knows what you are going through. I testify that the "Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I know that "all things shall be for out good."
7 "And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7)
Act Now!
No matter what happens, know He is there and strive to serve others continually.
With Love,
Elder Soller
Blog: www.levisoller.wix.com/mission
Please feel free to e-mail me back any thoughts or impressions you had while reading this e-mail or comment on my blog!