I have been thinking about the conscience act of choosing to believe and what causes people to become less active.
Even though members, like the 2,060 stripling warriors are "taught to believe" (Alma 57:26) what causes people to continue to believe what they were taught ?
We
all believe something. In missionary work or dating or simply trying to
get to know someone, it is important to ask others what they believe.
A
common pattern in missionary work is used by Ammon and Aaron as they
teach the gospel to the Lamanites. As Ammon teaches Lamoni he asks: “And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God ?...And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things..? And he said: Yea, I believe..”(Alma 18: 24-29)
“I believe all these things which thou hast spoken” (Alma 18:33) Ammon then tells Lamoni’s wife the Queen that her husband “is not dead, but he sleepeth in God, and on the morrow he shall rise again..And Ammon said unto her: Believest thou this? And she said unto him..I believe..”(Alma 19: 8-9)
However,
our beliefs can change over time, depending on our actions. Even though
we feel that our belief or testimony has grown from a seed into a tree
we should continue to "nourish the tree"
(Alma 32: 39, 41)
Samuel
the Lamanite prophesied five years prior to the Savior's birth that
there would be no darkness for about 36 hours(Hel. 14: 4). After seeing
this indisputable physical sign of "no darkness in all that night" (3
Ne. 1: 19) three years later the people “began to forget those signs..began to be less and less astonished at a sign..insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts..and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen” (3 Ne. 2:1).
Elder Henry B. Eyring said: "...one of the effects of disobeying God seems to be the creation of just enough spiritual anesthetic
to block any sensation as the ties to God are being cut. Not only
[does] the testimony of the truth slowly erode, but even the memories of
what it was like to be in the light [begin] to seem...like a delusion"
(Henry B. Eyring, A Life Founded in Light and Truth, BYU Education
Week, August 15, 2000).
What do we believe?
“Jesus said unto her [Martha], I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world” (John 11:25-27).
As Jesus said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). likewise the measure of our belief is found in our willingness to repent. "if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits" (Hel. 14: 13).
Being
good, loving Jesus and believing in Him we naturally repent of our sins
and when we receive forgiveness we are truly happy. Hence, "Be Good,
and you will be Happy".
Aaron travels to the city of Jerusalem and “entered
into one of their synagogues to preach unto the people, and as he was
speaking unto them, behold there arose an Amalekite and began to contend
with him..” (Alma 21: 5) in order to determine their sincerity and level of interest he asks:
“Believest thou that the Son of God shall come to redeem mankind from their sins? And the man said unto him: We do not believe..” (Alma 21: 7-8) “Therefore, when he saw that they would not hear his words, [because of their unbelief] he departed out of their synagogue..” (Alma 21:11)
This
becomes a good pattern for us in missionary work or even in dating
relationships. When investigators don't progress it is best to stop
teaching them and look for others. Likewise, in dating relationships
when we see that someone does not believe we should "depart..out of their synagogue".
A few photos from this week....
On
Tuesday, June 17th, we went to the Immigration office to renew our
Visas as well six (6) other missionaries. The cost per person is $640
and must be paid in cash. Inasmuch as their largest bill is only $30
this makes for a large stack of money to add up to $5,120.
While
we were at the Immigration office we noticed two (2) girls from the
Branch. Fatima who is in the process of applying for a passport and her
friend Dalica who is waiting for her passport. As Dalica removed her
receipt I noticed that it was quite worn. As I looked closer at her
receipt I saw that she had paid for her passport on August 26, 2011.
This poor girl has been waiting almost three (3) years for her
passport........I took this photo and sent it to Tualufo the mission
secretary to see how we could help her.
This
is Dalica, she currently serves as the Primary President. On Thursday,
June 19th just before Mom's English class, we met Dalica to receive her
biometric identification and two (2) new passport photos. While Mom
taught class I went to the airport to send these via Portador Diario
(our version of Federal Express) to Maputo. Hopefully we can help her
resolve her passport issue so she can serve a mission!
This man has collected some empty plastic bottles.
Mom out delivering cornbread!
This is the Beira District Presidency: President Freeman Dickie- 31 years old (2nd Counselor), President Alfredo Geraldo Camalizene- President, President Gil Joaquim Lange Huò (1st counselor)
I explained that the first counselor sits on the right of the president so they changed seats.
Sure love you!
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