Howdy Howdy Howdy,
So Elder Christofferson was in North
Carolina for a stake conference, and he gave us a couple hours in the morning
that we could meet with him. President and Sister C. bore their
testimonies, and then Elder Christofferson had a question-and-answer session
for an hour and a half! Lots of the questions he answered with scriptures, and
it was funny, because he carries one of the new tiny little sets with him when
he travels, and he said "Elder Ballard will ask me "Are you sure you
have all the scriptures in there? It seems you could be missing a
few!"" Haha It was fantastic! Our questions covered all kinds of
topics, including unified service, priesthood keys, building a testimony, the
Book of Mormon, grace and the Atonement, the power and reason for covenants,
faith, repentance, and forgiveness. I'll highlight a couple of ideas:
In Hebrews 13:17 it talks about how
our priesthood leaders will give a report on us. Elder Christofferson told us
to make sure President C's report about each of us missionaries is a happy
one, and not one where he says "oh, uh let's move to the next one..."
He actually used Elder Z. as an example for this one, and we all know
Elder Z. is super fantastic :) Elder Christofferson just said "Where
is Elder Z.? (Z. said in an Italian accent). So Elder Z.,
will pres. C.'s report on you be a happy one? Of course it will."
Talking about unity, elder Christofferson
said "if you are missing unity in your companionship, you each must
love God more and keep the first commandment. We should all have this love in
the Church."
In Matthew, Christ gives what's
called the great commission. It's restated in the Doctrine and Covenants
section 112:28-29. It's to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel
and baptize." It was given to his Apostles, but the Apostles can't reach
the entire world. That's why they have the Seventies. But the Apostles and the Seventies
still can't reach all the world, that's why they have us. Elder Christofferson
then said we are literally companions with the Apostles, and we share Apostolic
authority! So that was pretty neat to think about. He also said "it's a
miracle God lets us touch anything in his kingdom. Yet he lets us handle the
fine China and the Crystal. He trusts us with a portion of this work. We must
handle it with the spirit. With the spirit all will come out right, so pray
mightily."
Then Elder Christofferson talked
about how testimonies are formed gradually. He said that his seemed to develop
overtime without any certain turning point. "That doesn't mean that our
testimonies are deficient. There's no problem with knowledge from the Holy
Ghost, it's truth is pure. That's why to sin against it is the unpardonable
sin." He said his testimony began with the Book of Mormon, and he hopes we
rely upon it in our missionary work. We will never receive the chance to study
it for 2 hours a day again. He said "the Lord doesn't just tell us once it
is true, he will confirm it to us again and again. If we can control anything
in life, it is living in the condition to receive a confirmation."
When asked about Grace he shared the
scripture Doctrine and Covenants 20:29–31. We are cleansed, justified, and
sanctified by grace, but we must accept Grace by living the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and
Enduring to the End. As missionaries we come offering this gift to all people.
We invite them to repent to receive the kingdom of heaven. He jokingly talked
about using that as a door approach "knock knock knock. How can I help
you? REPENT!" :) Hahaha. He said "now, not everyone you talk to will
believe that we are "the Kingdom of Heaven", but that doesn't change
the fact that it is true. They will reject us but it is true. It is true."
Also talking about Grace he said that if we are on the path to repentance and
living righteously when we leave this life, we've succeeded. No matter how
short or far on the path we've come, if we're on it, we pass.
Someone asked him a great question
about what covenants do for us. He told us that everything starts with faith.
Faith is a spiritual gift and we must increase it. We can grow our faith
through prayer, acting on faith, bearing testimony, and repenting. But one way
we may not think about is that keeping Covenants increases our faith! Covenants
are individual promises with God, so God literally says "Zac, you can live
in the Celestial Kingdom if you keep your end." One time while talking
with a Protestant minister, the minister said that the world needs more strong
Christians. Elder Christofferson said that Covenants are what make us
"strong Christians."
One Elder asked "what would you
have us know about repentance?" Elder Christofferson responded "do
it!" :) haha. Then he said "when we talk about repentance, we should
have on a smile." He also made mention of the people who believe
repentance is easy, and we can do whatever we want as long as we plan to repent
later. He said that first, how can we be sure we will repent? And second,
"this kind of attitude is basically slapping the Lord in the face, telling
him "you pay for this." He then told us a story of one time when
he took the sacrament, and in sacrament cup only had a couple of drops in it.
His first thought was "One of those teachers isn't doing his job
right." But then his second thought came, and it said "wouldn't it be
nice if I was faithful enough that he only suffered a few drops for me."
We don't wish for the Savior to suffer unnecessarily. He also talked about how
time doesn't erase sin, only repentance does, and how we need to check
ourselves and make sure we're clean. He said that those kinds of prayers for
remembrance can be scary, because we receive an answer! But often the
repentance process is simple and we can be forgiven and cleansed of that burden
we didn't even realize we had.
Finally, he talked about once we
finish repenting, then it is finished! We are to first, confess our sins but
second, to forsake them. The Lord remembers them no more, but if God knows
everything, then how can this be!? It's because it is as if that sin never
happened. Then he said "Satan doesn't want us to forget our sins. The jerk..." :) We all laughed
super hard! Haha, it was great! Then he said this:
"God wants you to walk in the
Sunshine, not in the Shadows."
Looking at our future lives he said
"there will be trials yes, challenges yes, discouragement yes. But in the
end it's a good life. Some of you wondering if you're doing enough or if the
Lord accepts your offering. I bless you that in the coming weeks you'll see the
joy God has in you. You worry about being too perfect. It is important to
change, but you are already doing more good than you realize. I bless you with
power in teaching and testifying. You are the Kingdom of Heaven. I bless you
with protection. And I bless you that you will remember this day, and that you
heard these words, and this testimony, from my lips."
It was a wonderful visit and a
wonderful chance to hear him speak. The church is so true!!
Thanks for the email and support!
Love you!
Elder Branch
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