Strengthen our Faith in Christ

Would you look at that, its Monday again. I swear, each week goes by faster and faster. I figured I’d try and get this letter off early this week so that I can free up some time in the afternoon. Like every other week, this has been a good one. It went pretty much the same as every other one, except our Thursday meeting was extra long since it was a combined zone conference. I’m running out of things to talk about because I feel like everything I do during the week I’ve talked about at least a dozen times before. We are now over halfway into this transfer, just another testament of how fast time is flying.

The highlight of this week probably happened last night. Elder Aisea and I didn’t have anything planned in the afternoon, so we ended up at a chapel watching President Nelson’s youth fireside. I liked it so much because even though it was directed at the youth, I felt like the message was tailored specifically for me. It probably helps that I still feel like a youth half the time. I was also super excited throughout because I was expecting him to announce the opening of China for missionary work. But one of the main reason I liked it so much was because of how straightforward he was with the youth. One of the challenges he gave the youth was to break their constant reliance on social media, and his invitation to do that was to participate in a seven day social media fast. He described it as “taking a break from the fake”. The reason this struck me so much is because it rang true with a principle that I’ve been pondering a lot, which is the principle of being spiritually minded and giving up the things of the world. So many people I know, myself included, put so much weight into things that have absolutely no eternal value, and really not a whole lot of temporal value either.

One thing I’ve been trying to develop over the course of my mission and hopefully over the course of my life is the ability to have an eternal perspective of things. I think one of the biggest things that keep people from having happiness and embracing the fullness of the restored gospel is their inability to get past things that hold them up and that they think are so important right now. I promise you they aren’t going to matter in the long run. We won’t have time to think about how much we miss our coffee or cigarettes when sitting at the feet of our Savior. It won’t have seemed like such a chore to go to three hours of church on Sunday when He tells us that we have been good and faithful servants. The dirty looks or snide remarks some prideful member made won’t bother when your in the embrace of Jesus Christ. The point I’m trying to make is don’t worry about things so much. I know keeping the commandments can be hard, but when we understand that “the [commandments]...serve to strengthen [our] faith in Christ” (Alma 25:16), they don’t become such a chore.

The question we should be asking ourselves is “What am I willing to do, or not do, to know my Savior?” If you ask yourself that honestly and with the intent to act, I promise you, you will seek Him, you will know Him, and you will love Him, all because He loves us so dearly Himself.

Have a great week y’all!

Elder Orchard