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.