Good Afternoon!! I hope everyone has had a great week!! I know I have even with the craziness of mission life!! We have a baptism scheduled on Saturday for one of our Investigators!! That will be super exciting!!
This week I want to focus my email around thinking on Christ. There is a talk that was given by a previous leader of our church, his name is Ezra Taft Benson. Its called Think on Christ. It is such an amazing talk! At the beginning of his talk he said that “Not only will you be held accountable for the things you do, but you will be held responsible for the very thoughts you think" Later on he says "Thoughts lead to acts, acts lead to habits, habits lead to character—and our character will determine our eternal destiny" These thoughts in our minds at this very moment is contributing, however infinitesimally, almost imperceptibly to the shaping of our souls, even to the lineaments of our countenance, even passing and idle thoughts leave their impressions on the mind. Every thought good or bad WILL lead to and action, and if we continue to act it WILL turn into a habit and every habit WILL turn into your character.
President Benson likens "the mind to a stage on which only one act at a time can be performed. From one side of the wings the Lord, who loves you, is trying to put on the stage of your mind that which will bless you. From the other side of the wings the devil, who hates you, is trying to put on the stage of your mind that which will curse you." We truly are the "Stage Manager" we can control every thought that comes into our minds! Every good thought is of Christ and every bad or evil thought is of the adversary. Our accountability begins with how we handle the evil thought immediately after it is presented. In the Scriptures, Christ says "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not; fear not." If we look to Christ in EVERYTHING that we do than we don't have ANYTHING to worry about!
In the talk by President Benson he tells a story and says.... "There was a little crippled boy who ran a small news-stand in a crowded rail road station. He must have been about twelve years old. Every day he would sell papers, candy, gum, and magazines to the thousands of commuters passing through the terminal. One night two men were rushing through the crowded station to catch a train. One was fifteen or twenty yards in front of the other. It was Christmas Eve. Their train was scheduled to depart in a matter of minutes. The first man turned a corner and in his haste to get home to a Christmas cocktail party plowed right into the little crippled boy. He knocked him off his stool, and candy, newspapers, and gum were scattered everywhere. Without so much as stopping, he Ezra Taft Benson 3 cursed the little fellow for being there and rushed on to catch the train that would take him to celebrate Christmas in the way he had chosen for himself. It was only a matter of seconds before the second commuter arrived on the scene. He stopped, knelt, and gently picked up the boy. After making sure the child was unhurt, the man gathered up the scattered newspapers, sweets, and magazines. Then he took his wallet and gave the boy a five-dollar bill. “Son,” he said, “I think this will take care of what was lost or soiled. Merry Christmas!” Without waiting for a reply the commuter now picked up his briefcase and started to hurry away. As he did, the little crippled boy cupped his hands together and called out: “Mister, Mister!” The man stopped as the boy asked, “Are you Jesus Christ?” By the look on his face, it was obvious the commuter was embarrassed by the question. But he smiled and said, “No, son. I am not Jesus Christ, but I am trying hard to do what He would do if He were here.” And that, my friend, is what it means to be a Christian, even on Christmas Eve. It’s a matter of impersonation."
I love this story!! It really illustrates that anyone and everyone can see when you are being Christ-like! There was a part of the talk that came from a book called "In His Steps" in it, it gives and example of a Christian congregation that took a pledge. The pledge was that for an entire year they earnestly and honestly would not do anything without first asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” After asking themselves that question, they were to follow Jesus exactly as they knew how, no matter what the results. It gives an example of a family that took the pledge, The kids experience is amazing, it was.... “We went to an entertainment this evening. A lot of the girls at the high school had been to see it, and they told John and me that it was grand. But I’d rather John told what happened.” John seemed to be unusually reluctant to relate their experiences. Finally he spoke in a subdued tone that was unlike his usual loud and assertive manner. “Well, after it began,” he said, “I thought it was one of those foolish things that was just for—well, just entertainment. Then I remembered what you said one day, Mother, about not wanting Mary and me to go to any entertainment that we wouldn't invite you or father to see. Well, it got pretty vulgar, and—“ Another silence was around the table. Mrs. Ward looked at the boy with a new expression, as if some very rare experience were being related—as indeed it was. The boy went on slowly: “Just then Mary nudged me and whispered, ‘Let’s get up and go out!’ Honest, I thought it would be a [strange] thing to do, but then when I asked ‘What would Jesus do?’ it seemed all right. So we got up, treading on a lot of feet in the row where we had been sitting.” “On our way out,” broke in Mary, “I said to John, ‘Let’s do one more thing. Let’s tell the manager why we are going out.’ John said, ‘All right, and let’s tell him to give us our money back because we did not pay for that kind of entertainment.’ You never will see a more surprised man than Mr. Rondus when we told him how we felt!” “Surprised isn't the word,” interrupted John. “He was flabbergasted! When I told him we thought he ought to refund our money, he didn’t say a word, Ezra Taft Benson 5 but forked the money right over. Do you think we did what Jesus would do?” Mrs. Ward had a tear in her eye. She reached over and stroked the boy’s head. “A thing like that never happened in this town before. Well, we certainly have had some new experiences.” “Worthwhile, don’t you think? But can we keep it up?” questioned Mr. Ward. The question provoked a discussion around the Ward table that lasted into the next morning. What do you think?"
As a companionship we have taken this challenge to think on Christ or to think What would Christ do right now in this situation? It has been an amazing experience to think even in those small situations what would Christ do. I would challenge you all to take this challenge either as an individual or as a family and to share the experiences that you had with each other and I would love to hear your experience also!
I Love you all so much! I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share my experience and the things that I learn with all of you!! Have a great week!!
~Sister Hardy
Picture! We had the opportunity to participate in a national day of service in honour of 9/11, a member of our branch helps maintain an abandoned cemetery, as we were working away edging around the stones we found one that had been covered by the grass! It was an amazing testimony building experience!
Oh what a story this picture has...... there is an obstacle course trail that we were playing on, we had to set the camera to a timer and its only 10 seconds.... the bar that my companions are sitting on is 10 feet high, so i had 10 minutes to get up on top before the picture was taken I jumped up and went to swing my leg around, when I lost my balance, and so yes I fell and landed on my back...... and as you can tell my companions were laughing.... so was I! but all is well....
It started to rain when we were out knocking last week, as you see it looks like i just got out of the shower, wat was literally running off my face....
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