November 13, 2016
Hey everyone!
This week was a little crazy! I am
training and in a threesome so we are all over the place all the time and it
has just been a little bit unorganized. But we are figuring it out so that is
good. This week we spent a lot of time teaching lessons, which of course is the
best and that is when I am the most happy. Plus, my back which has been
bothering me a good amount has gotten a lot better so that is something else to
be grateful for!
Today I actually had a great
opportunity to finish the Book of Mormon. I have read it several times on my
mission and each time when I read it, I try and focus on something that is
important to me at the time. This past reading, I focused on happiness and finding
joy in the journey. If I am to summarize what I learned, it would be this: keep
God's commandments always, be grateful in all circumstances, and cling to
faith, hope, and charity. I wanted to talk about the last one for a little bit.
Some people who are reading this not
might know the story of the Book of Mormon perfectly or at all, but anyways it
is about a family who follows the Lord’s commandments to come to a promised
land. There they build up a society and worship Christ for almost 1000 years.
Then, eventually they become very wicked and were eventually destroyed. But
anyway the point of this short explanation is so that I can share what one of
the last prophets thought about their situation.
“For so exceedingly do they anger
that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their
love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually.”
When I read this section this
morning I thought a lot about the world today. How many problems would we really
have if we just loved each other? Of course, everyone says that but do we ever
actually try to do it? Would you ever get divorced while loving and serving
your wife or husband every day? Would countries ever go to war if they sat down
and respected one another and each other’s cultures? I know that if we just
loved each other we would have a much better world. Yea, it’s true that we
probably cannot influence the whole world and fix the problems that we have,
but we can fix our families, our friend group, and those around us. I like this
verse from the scriptures as well.
“And it came to pass that there was
no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the
hearts of the people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor
whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and
surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been
created by the hand of God. There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were
there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of
Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. And how blessed were they!”
I have people ask me everyday
questions like what do I have to do to be happy? How can I be saved? Why am I not happy in my life? I will give some
practical counsel. If you have a family love them with all of your heart and
with all of your mind and with all of your strength. Serve someone every single
day. Never speak ill of anyone, backbite, or speak in anger towards anyone
else. If you will try to do this, which I will try to do this week and in the
coming months and years as well, you will be blessed with happiness whether or
not you believe in a God or in Christ. By giving up yourself and trying to love
others, your heart will expand and it will be filled. I also know that if we
seek to love others and pray every day for that love, we will be given the
strength to love the people that are not easy to love.
I love you all, even though of
course our love is never perfect,
Elder Coleman
