October 8, 2018
Jon -
It was pretty cool to be able to watch General Conference with you this weekend. I know we weren't in the same place but I had a pretty good idea what you would be doing and when you would be doing it. This was the first time in my life that we didn't have Priesthood Conference on Saturday night. That was weird.
So instead we went to Lowes PPT with Nate, Aimar, and Javi. I jumped too but tricks aren't really my thing. Javi practiced his front flip and he is starting to overcome some of his fear. He didn't land it on the trampoline but did the flip and landed in the foam.
The 2 hour church block was the worst kept secret in history. People have been talking about it for months but I thought it was a joke. I guess it's no joke now!
My favorite messages were from Dallin H. Oaks on Saturday morning and D. Todd Christofferson on Saturday afternoon. Elder Christofferson talked about church members who selectively follow commandments or selectively accept callings and Dallin H. Oaks said that there is a destiny of glory for every single one of God's children even those who do not accept the gospel. I recently read an article titled "Do you believe in a God who will send you to Hell for drinking a cup of coffee?". These talks told me the answer is of course no. God gives us commandments so we can progress to be like him and if we selectively don't follow certain commandments we aren't going to hell, just a different level of glory. I think there might be a billion levels of glory not just 3. And just because someone doesn't get to the highest glory the moment they die doesn't mean they can't stop working towards it after death.
I have been thinking a lot about how we/I treat people in my Elders Quorum. There are several who are inactive in the church and/or have lost their testimonies completely. For a while now I have started looking at these guys who aren't "100% in" as like 90% in or 70% in or whatever and I guess I started looking down on them a little bit. That's probably not the right way to say it but I've been focusing on that last 10% or 20% that they aren't doing right now. But I had this flashback to when I was a missionary and I had an investigator show up to church for the first time. You know that feeling? How great it is? If I had one investigator show up to church I would be grinning from ear to ear, it would make my whole week. I'd never think oh this guy still drinks coffee or this guy doesn't pay tithing - no way. I would just be so happy the person just came to church. Even if he was only "1% in". I felt the spirit tell me that this is how I should feel for every member of my Elders Quorum. I should be happy that they just came to church at all. Maybe they aren't at 100% right now but I have to start focusing more on "how in they are" instead of "how in they aren't". I don't know if that makes any sense but it's what I felt.
I'm so grateful for living prophets. I'm grateful for general conference. I'm glad I got to see it with you. You may already know this quote but I want to end this letter with something that Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote while serving as a mission president in Australia:
”I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work.”
Love,
Dad
It was pretty cool to be able to watch General Conference with you this weekend. I know we weren't in the same place but I had a pretty good idea what you would be doing and when you would be doing it. This was the first time in my life that we didn't have Priesthood Conference on Saturday night. That was weird.
So instead we went to Lowes PPT with Nate, Aimar, and Javi. I jumped too but tricks aren't really my thing. Javi practiced his front flip and he is starting to overcome some of his fear. He didn't land it on the trampoline but did the flip and landed in the foam.
The 2 hour church block was the worst kept secret in history. People have been talking about it for months but I thought it was a joke. I guess it's no joke now!
My favorite messages were from Dallin H. Oaks on Saturday morning and D. Todd Christofferson on Saturday afternoon. Elder Christofferson talked about church members who selectively follow commandments or selectively accept callings and Dallin H. Oaks said that there is a destiny of glory for every single one of God's children even those who do not accept the gospel. I recently read an article titled "Do you believe in a God who will send you to Hell for drinking a cup of coffee?". These talks told me the answer is of course no. God gives us commandments so we can progress to be like him and if we selectively don't follow certain commandments we aren't going to hell, just a different level of glory. I think there might be a billion levels of glory not just 3. And just because someone doesn't get to the highest glory the moment they die doesn't mean they can't stop working towards it after death.
I have been thinking a lot about how we/I treat people in my Elders Quorum. There are several who are inactive in the church and/or have lost their testimonies completely. For a while now I have started looking at these guys who aren't "100% in" as like 90% in or 70% in or whatever and I guess I started looking down on them a little bit. That's probably not the right way to say it but I've been focusing on that last 10% or 20% that they aren't doing right now. But I had this flashback to when I was a missionary and I had an investigator show up to church for the first time. You know that feeling? How great it is? If I had one investigator show up to church I would be grinning from ear to ear, it would make my whole week. I'd never think oh this guy still drinks coffee or this guy doesn't pay tithing - no way. I would just be so happy the person just came to church. Even if he was only "1% in". I felt the spirit tell me that this is how I should feel for every member of my Elders Quorum. I should be happy that they just came to church at all. Maybe they aren't at 100% right now but I have to start focusing more on "how in they are" instead of "how in they aren't". I don't know if that makes any sense but it's what I felt.
I'm so grateful for living prophets. I'm grateful for general conference. I'm glad I got to see it with you. You may already know this quote but I want to end this letter with something that Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote while serving as a mission president in Australia:
”I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work.”
Love,
Dad
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