Let your light shine in!!

So when your standing in a dark room can you see the light slowly fill the room? When your standing in a light room can you see the dark creep in and take over the light? Well, let me answer those so we are on the same page. You can definitely see the light coming into a dark room from either under the door or through the window or many other light sources. But it is not as easy to see the dark creep into the lighted room, it always looks like the dark is at bay. Why does this even matter? Well let me tell you why this matters, let me tell you the point of this conversation! I hope you will find that it is a very important topic because it is to me.

    I ask those questions because light is just like the light of Christ or the gospel and the dark that creeps into our lives is just like sin or evil that sneaks its way into our lives. Picture with me for a second that you are standing in that dark room, and your in that dark room because there are evils in your life that are surrounding you at all time, whether they be drugs alcohol or other things in this world that Satan tries to drag us down with. But you are standing in this room and you can see under the door that there is light out there. It is pretty easy to spot that light when you are in that dark room right? And as you are standing there the door slowly opens and the room is filled with light!! I don't know about you but I like the light a lot more than I like the dark. Now lets pretend you are in a well light room. Where's the dark? You have to purposely be looking for the darkness under the door, but if your not seeking it out it is easy to ignore. Now the door opens and does the darkness cover the light and make it dark in the room? No, the light extends outward into the darkness and makes it easier to see out there.

Isaiah Ch. 60

   Now let us asses this analogy. The light I am speaking of is the light of Christ! When you are surrounded by evil you can notice even the slightest bit of light or the slightest bit of change in your life because of the gospel! The light of Christ even in a small amount can change your life. In my missionary experience of bringing the light into someones life is a completely life changing experience for both sides. On the side of the person in the dark room or the person without the light because they can see the light come into their lives! And on the side of the person in the well lite room or person with the gospel in their lives because they can see how what they have in their lives changed someone else life and it makes them want to share it more often! So i',m asking you if you feel you are in the dark then open the door and let the light in, go to mormon.org or lds.org and see and feel the light and if you have the light share it, open the door and bring light to those in the dark!

Original Secret Agent

           I know what your thinking. Is that Elder Brunson or a secret agent? It's very hard to get us in the right order because of the similarities I have with a secret agent. Take James Bond for example, he always looks fresh and wears a suit. I would make the argument that I do too. I seem to be holding a gun in that picture (lets face it I'm just pretending) but James Bond has a real gun all the time. However, there are a lot of differences between me and 007, the first one is I'm not British and I don't have a license to do harm to anyone. Second, I'm serving the Lord and he is serving the Queen. Third, my morals are a little different then that of James Bond. There are a lot more characteristics that 007 has that I don't and that I have that James doesn't! Even though I look pretty convincing in this picture it is obvious that I am not 007!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I thought of this comparison after looking at this picture of myself and reading this quote,

Who is it?

"This is what I learned: that everybody is talented, original and has something important to say." By Brenda Ueland. It's the original part that really stuck out to me, because we are all original we are one of a kind, we literally all different. Even though everywhere I go I remind someone of their brother or cousin or friend, I still know that I am an individual and no one is exactly like me and I'm not just like them. I can tell the difference between me and all those other people! What really makes everything even more impressive is that God knows each one of us........... He knows us perfectly and He knows us individually. How amazing is that? He knows your personality and He knows what you can handle and what you can't. Heavenly Father wont throw anything at you that you can't handle because he knows you and your strengths and weaknesses. So be original, be yourself, be God's child. No matter how far away you may get from Him, He will always know you and welcome you back to Him. Because where were you originally? You were with Him! So be original and live with Him here on this Earth.

Stray Hairs? Not on my Watch!

Mine wasn't that bad!

So I'm going to go random here. I just looked in my computer screen and could see my reflection and what did I see? Crazy hairs! A couple stray hairs on my head. Ridiculous I agree. For those who know me I don't like my hair to be touched, even if it only takes 30 seconds to do it in the morning I still don't like it. But that's not the point, the point is is that I had hairs out of order, hairs that were on there own agenda. How do I fix them? Well, either gel or some scissors because there will be no disorderly conduct here! That's a pretty harsh move right? Just straight up cut my hairs for being independent, after I thought about it seemed harsh. Kind of like murdering people for their religious beliefs. That's similar to what the apostles of Christs time went through. They were standing for something different and they were cut off or murdered for it. Even though the comparison  between apostles and stray hairs is a long stretch, I hope that you can make the connection with me. The link in my mind is because the apostles were standing for what they believe in and what they know to be true they were killed. And because my hairs are standing up out of line much like the apostles did (even though they stand for two different reasons and the apostles stood for what is right) they both were cut off. I guess the apostles were the stray hairs of their time. That is my thought for the day I hope it wasn't to random! Live Large!

Everything is Built Around Something!

Everytime I line up to take a free throw I place the end of my shoe in line with a tiny nail in the middle of the free throw line. That nail is what the entire basketball court is built around. It is placed right in the middle of the free throw line and if you line up with that nail you will be directly in line with the hoop. After that you have to do your part to finish the free throw. The nail is doing it's job, it is giving you the guidance you need to be successful but it can't shoot the ball for you. However, it will always be there for a reference point.
  This is the part where I relate the Gospel to a basketball court. I was shooting around last Monday on a carpeted gym floor and I have to line up with random spots on the floor and assume its the center line and I thought "you know what? The nail that is suppose to be in the middle of the basketball court is a lot like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." That thought popped into my mind because the basketball court is built around that nail and likewise the entire church is built around Jesus Christ. The LDS church has many points of doctrine to it but like the Prophet Joseph Smith said "“The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” The fundamental principles to a basketball court are the nail and the hardwood, all the lines and players are just appendages to it. The Gospel is centered around Jesus Christ, we worship Him and know we can return.

In This Moment!

Moments are what make our lives worth living! Elder George and I were shown a sign the other day that said "Life isn't counted by how many breathes you take, but by how many moments take your breath away" and I didn't understand that until now. I thought it was just another one of those sayings that would just touch the hearts of mom's or something. But after watching this video it became clear to me the number of moments in my life I will never forget. Whether they are the small moments like losing state basketball then state baseball the same year or the better moments of watching Spongebob with my niece after driving home from college or playing in the Whiffle ball World Series in my front yard with my brother. They will always be with me and shape who I am and will become. By far my favorite moments in my life have been those spent with my family and close friends. Probably because of the love we all share with one another.
However, there are moments in our lives that we are not present for but will always affect us. Those moments to me are those in which the Savior of the world suffered and died for us. What more of a moment could we ask for? He died for us so we could be forgiven of our sins and return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father. In those moments He took upon Himself all of the pains of the world, both past and present. It was an eternal sacrifice that will never run out and is always available to us to use. That moment is called the Atonement and I invite you to use it!

Enduring All-Stars

What is the first word you think of when you look at these beauties? The first word that comes to my mind is "Classic". Now I don't know the background or the origin of the converse all-stars but I'm almost positive they have been around for a long time now. So these shoes have what we in Nevada call "staying power", which means they have the ability to stay up to date for a long time and never fade away. And that is exactly what these fly shoe's are doing. No matter how many years they have been here they have always stayed in style! In the movie I-Robot what shoe is it that Will Smith rocks? Yes, the all-stars! That movie is based on a time in the distant future and they are still cool even when we have robots taking over the world! So the question is, will these shoe's be able to endure to the end? Will they stay in style? Will you buy a pair because you read this? Will they still be awesome even with all these new shoes coming out? Will they be able to stand up against the ever popular Lebron James shoes? The answer to all of these questions is: of course they will!! They are to cool not to be able to stay forever. They will let their light shine on for as long as we live, whether robots are messing up the world as we know it or not, they will shine (similar to a light house but in a more metaphoric way).

         Now the real question is, do we have "staying power"? But in a different way, not the ability to stay in style, or the ability to stay cool for as long as possible but in a different way. The way that I am speaking of is spiritually. Do we have the ability to endure to the end spiritually? So what does it mean to endure to the end spiritually? Well, I'm glad you asked. Enduring to the end means remaining faithful to the commandments and promises we make with God in trying to live a Christ like life. Enduring to the end sounds easy enough right? However, Satan is out there trying to make us fall off the path that our Heavenly Father has set for us. We will face challenges in our lives (different from what the shoes will face) and if we hold to what we know is right in our lives and follow the teachings of the prophets, modern and ancient, we will be able to endure to the end. If we endure to the end and remain faithful to our Lord above we can have eternal happiness and live with our Heavenly Father once again! And if you are searching for a way to learn more about enduring or prophets or Christ, then I encourage you to ask me questions or visit mormon.org, it is a great website full of information. "Enduring to the end, or remaining faithful to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout our life, is a fundamental requirement for salvation in the kingdom of God...Therefore, enduring to the end is not just a matter of passively tolerating life's difficult circumstances or "hanging in there." Ours is an active religion, helping God's children along the strait and narrow path to develop their full potential during this life and return to Him one day...Enduring to the end is a process filling every minute of our life, every hour, every day, from sunrise to sunrise. It is accomplished through personal discipline following the commandments of God."--Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?", Ensign, Nov 2007,.Pages 18–21

I Love When Great Whites Fly!

Isn't the world just awesome indeed! We look around and we see God's finger prints everywhere. We are defiantly seeing it in Lewistown Montana right now because of all the rain we have received and now it is beautiful and green. What do you love about the world? Bear Grylls loves spiders, astronauts love the whole world (but they have a better view anyway). So what do you love? Do you love oceans, mountains, family, sports? Whatever it might be it came to us from Jesus Christ under Gods direction and that is what I love about the world. I love that God and Jesus Christ made this Earth for us to live on, they gave it to us to inhabit. What a great gift, so take a minute and look around at the awesomeness we have around us and tell me what you think. God is love.

WHO IS THE GREATEST!

Is Muhammad Ali humble? Well, for anyone that has every heard him or seen him box the answer is probably no. But what is being humble? Is it declining that your great at something when someone asks you "how good are you"? It could be but I think humility takes on many different forms. As we know athletes struggle with being humble all the time. I hear that LeBron James hasn't been very humble in the playoffs this year but i don't know I don't get to watch him.From what we have seen with Mr. Ali here, is some great boxing but less than humble speech. Some of his quotes are my favorite, like

"I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own." or as we all have seen "I am the greatest". Sometimes we may feel that way but we defiantly don't need to go around honking our own horn. I'm not trying to put down Mr. Ali I'm just saying he isn't the best example of humility.

  However, there is at least one athlete that showed get humility while preforming and in my opinion is the greatest running back of all-time! He was an animal on the grid iron and they called him "Sweetness". Whenever he scored a touchdown he didn't spike the ball or do the funky chicken, he just simple handed the ball to the ref or set the ball down and ran off the field. In other words he acted like he had been there before. Probably one of the best examples in sports this world has ever seen. I know there are many athletes and other famous people that are humble but I chose Walter Payton because he had a lot of reasons to be cocky or full of himself  about and he chose not to be.

    I can't find who said it in the April 2011 General Conference but someone said "Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking less about yourself". And who was it in history that set the perfect example of being humble? Oh that's right.... Jesus Christ. Think of all the things he could have been less then humble about, he was the literal Son of God, he healed the sick, he had the same power and authority of his Father in Heaven, he was resurrected from the dead after 3 days. But was he full of himself? No, he showed us how to live our lives, he taught us through example how to be humble servants of God. He was the only perfect man on the earth and he even had to humble himself to return to live with his Father. If he, being one greater than us was humble don't we too need to humble ourselves before God? The answer is yes no matter who you are it is yes. I know I'm not perfect, I have a long way to go before I'm as humble as God wants me to be but i am trying as we all should be. Follow Christ's example and humble yourself to God's will.

How Big Do You Dream?

     With the NBA playoffs in full swing and with all the super stars showing off their mad skills, I know that basketball players of all ages are trying to be the super stars. Everyone dreams of being them, we dream of shooting like them, we dream of jumping like them, we dream of running like them. I know this is always true for me, I always dream of jumping like Vince Carter in the 2001 dunk contest, I dream of shooting the lights out in a packed stadium like Ray Allen. However, often times my dreams fall short when I am playing on a carpeted basketball court about a third of the size of an actual court. I realize that I can't do a 360 between the legs dunk and get a standing ovation, I realize that hitting 7 out of 10 three pointers in front of a couple guys is far less exciting than that of Ray Allen doing it in front of a packed house. Although I fall short of my dreams more often that not at least I dream big and continue to dream. People all over the world have different kinds of dreams, some want to be a world champion team roper or a movie star or even a kick boxer. But no matter what your dreams are and however big and out of reach they may seem, our dreams always stretch us to be better in this life. Look at the professionals of the sports world, did they achieve what they have achieved by not dreaming that they would be there someday? No, they have always had that dream in their hearts to be there and make a difference in some way.
            Although those are great goals to have in our lives there is an even greater goal. And that is the goal of living with our Father in Heaven for all of eternity with all of our loved ones. If that goal doesn't seem like a big goal then I don't know what does. However, I know this goal is attainable because of the love and the guidance through the gospel that God has shown to us in this life. This dream can be realized by following the commandments and by living what we know to be true and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. It is my dream to live with my Father in Heaven again and I will do all I can in this life to make that dream come true. But it is not only my dream that I myself live with Him again but also all my loved ones and dear friends. I need to share what I know is true so this dream can be realized for them and for me. This is an eternal dream that can easily become a reality with faith and prayer and love for your fellow man. This dream will stretch us and we need to always have it in our hearts and our minds to accomplish this dream.

Ripple Affect

     I wish I would have gotten a picture. What I saw was something that could only be expressed through a picture so we all could have seen it. There are pictures of what I saw but they are paintings and just aren't the same. Elder Mortenson and I were driving by some frog ponds in Lewistown Montana and I looked over to them and saw what I wanted a picture. It was a small family, 2 kids and a father. The two little kids were sitting on the park bench waiting for their dad to cast their line for them to fish. I watched as the Father cast and I saw the line hit the water, as we continued to drive I could see all the ripples in the water spread out over the entire pond. Some people might think that is pretty weird to want a picture of or think I'm just a big softy (which I'm not), but it was literally picture perfect. As I saw this unfold I thought of the classic ripple theory, how such a small thing can impact such a large area. For example LeBron James moving from Cleveland to go play with D-Wade and Bosh in Miami, look at that ripple affect. Sure it was a huge thing in the NBA but the national coverage and the things around that happend because of that reach far beyond the NBA. People were saying that Clevelands economy was going to drop like a rock because a basketball player left their town. That was the example that popped into my head and I'm sorry if you don't agree.

    The next thing I thought of was the Plan of Salvation. Here I was looking and a father and his two children and I said to myself "I wonder if he knows he will be with them forever?" Because through the Saviors love for us and his fathers love for us it is possible that we can live with the ones we love forever. As a missionary you think of those kind of things, in that perfect moment I wondered if he knew that it could be like that forever. I know that one day he will get the opportunity to hear of the great plan, it might not be in this life but if not then it will for sure be in the next. It is my testimony that we can live with our families forever through the Plan of Salvation. I know that those loved ones that have passed on are there waiting for us to come and it will be a glorious day when it comes to be reunited with those we love.

Life Devotions

 All my life I feel that I have been working on the exact same project. That project is a 1970 SS Chevelle. I know what your thinking and I agree, I love that car too. But I feel like it has taken up my entire life, all my money, all my time, and all my energy. However, it hasn't taken all my life it has only taken the last five years of my life. I bought this car because I knew that it would make me happy and I was right. Every time I see a picture of that car or have a flash back to working on that car I get a big smile. So the two main sources of my happiness for the last five years have been my family and my car, but now my car may soon be finished and then what? Yes, it will still make me happy to drive and see and I will always work on it but what will fill that happiness spot when my car is all done? I have asked myself that question for a long time now ever since we took my car to be painted, and last night while lying in bed I came up with the answer. Don't worry about it!! Profound I know, it is human nature to worry about it, whatever it may be. But when you think about it, it all just makes sense, just don't worry about it. Every time I think that I can feel the stress fall away. I'm pretty much just saying be happy with what you have right now. I look at what I have right now and that is serving the Lord for the next couple of months and that made me happy. That I get to be here serving the lord and spreading the gospel of truth and light, to help change peoples life for the better! So don't worry about what will make you happy next, just stop and look around and see what you have right now and see the many ways that it is making you happy and I promise you that you will be happy. I can promise you that you will have a new outlook on life because you wont be waiting for something, you will understand what you have better and appreciate it more. Do these things for yourself.

Stars

Friday night I was laying in my bed in Dubois, Wyoming and as I was laying there I looked out the window to see the night sky. While looking at the sky I saw two stars in the sky looking back at me. One of the stars was way brighter then the other star. I couldn't help but thinking "gees what a lazy star, here this one is shining bright and showing it's power while this one is barely putting out any light." Then I asked myself why I'm comparing these two stars together there are reasons and possibly light years why that star isn't as bright as that one. I mean that less bright star could be another planets sun or something. I'm no scientist but I do know that there are millions of reasons why stars are of different brightness. The world started flowing into my head and I thought of society today and how we compare ourselves to those around us. We compare ourselves to those: LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers, Albert Pujols, and some famous actor that i cant think of right now. But the point is, is why do we compare ourselves to those stars around us? Why aren't we happy with who we are and who God made us to be? God made those people with those characteristics and they made the most out of what He gave them. We should also strive to evolve our talents that our Father in Heaven has given us so we to can be someone to look up too. That is another point, we shouldn't want to be those famous people, we should by seeing them want to become better ourselves. That is my challenge to everyone, to find out what your talents are and to magnify them to become the best you can possible become. However, we will not be all we can be without the help our our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so keep Him in your heart as you strive to be better and He will bless you and carry you on your journey through life.

Intelligence

"One great reason why men have stumbled so frequently in many of their researches after philosophical truth is that they have sought them with their own intelligence, and have not sought unto God for that wisdom that fills and governs the universe and regulates all things. That is one great difficulty with the philosophers of the world, as it now exists, that man claims to himself to be the inventor of everything he discovers. Any new law and principle which he happens to discover he claims to himself instead of giving glory to God."
John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom

That is one of the great down falls of our society, is that we as a nation have forgotten God in our every day lives. We are seeing people take Him out of everything and therefore we forget to give thanks to Him for the things we accomplish. It is not by our own intelligence as mankind that we have brought so many great things to pass but by the mercy and love of God that all these things are possible.

Lift Your Voice unto Him

"Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteouness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen" 2 Nephi 5:35.

 This scripture from the Book of Mormon is one of my favorites. At the beginning it tells us that God answers prayers if we will ask him. God knows what we need in our lives and he loves each and everyone of us and knows us personally. Then Nephi says that he will lift up his voice to God. Nephi felt the power of prayer in his life and he wants all of us to feel that same feeling of receiving an answer to our prayers! I encourage all to find out for themselves to pray and ask God and feel his love.