Christmas

Hello Friends. Today I want to talk about Christmas.  Usually when I think of Christmas I think of Lights and decorations such as tree,lights,stockings,gifts,and many other things.

I wont lie to you when I hear Christmas I think about all of those things, But ever since I came out on my mission over a year ago there is two thing that has always stuck with me on my mind and that was my family and the birth of our Savior.          

The one question that I have recently been asking myself is what gift can I give the Savior? I cant give him Gold or anything worldly, so what can I give to my Savior for Christmas? And then it dawned on me. Serving my fellow man, and taking the time to reflect on the greatest gift the Savior could ever give to mankind.    Let me show some references as to why serving people is important. 

In Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

In John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." 

We have all heard of the Golden rule "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" Also we know just by reading the Holy Bible that the Savior's life and ministry was nothing but service. Healing the sick and the afflicted, raising people from the dead, Feeding the multitudes of people, Etc... The list can go on for a while.

Now you might be saying right now ok so serving our fellow man is important, But what is the greatest gift that the Savior gave to us.   May I be bold and say it is Eternal Life or what is known as Salvation? 

In the Doctrine and Covenants 6:13 we read "If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation. "

My friends because the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born into the world we have hope. Because of the Savior and his Atonement we can be with our families in the kingdom of God. It is my hope and prayer that we all take the time to serve our fellow man, and I hope we take the time to show how grateful we are to our families, friends and to our Savior.   Merry Christmas!

God is Loving Heavenly Father

Today I am going to talk about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. In the scriptures we have many references that show us how much God loves us. In John 3:16-17 we read

16¶For ^aGod so ^bloved the ^cworld, that he ^dgave his ^eonly begotten ^fSon, that whosoever ^gbelieveth in him should not perish, but have ^heverlasting ⁱlife.

17For God ^asent not his Son into the world to ^bcondemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Can you imagine having to give up your only child to save some people you dont even know! How about a best friend? 

In the book of Moses chapter 7 the prophet Enoch sees in a vison Satan holding a great big chain and this chain that satan is holding covers the earth with darkness, and Satan is laughing with his angels.

Then the prophet Enoch sees angels coming down from heaven teaching and testifying of the God head. He then says, 

"And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the ^aresidue of the people, and he wept"(Moses 7:28).  After Enoch sees this Enoch asks this question, "How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?"

As we can clearly read from the scriptures, God loves us so much that when we turn away from Him he weeps for us. If God weeps for us when we turn away from him then think of how happy he is when we turn to him and obey his commandments.

It is my witness that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he loves each and every one of us so much that His arms of mercy are opened waiting for us to grab hold of them.

I also bear witness that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ it is possible for all of Gods children to return to live with him once again.

ThanksGiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Here is a good scripture that talks about being thankful. I hope you enjoy it.

“O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
“I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
“I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.” (Mosiah 2:19–21.)

Lets Talk

I was reading in Isaiah 29:10-19 And I began thinking about how Great and wonderful the scriptures are to us. As I was reading these few versus I began to think about what the Lord said to Isaiah. I believe with all my heart that The Lord was talking about the Book Of Mormon. I know that Heavenly Father loves his children! As you continue to follow this Blog you will see more scriptures that will point out that the Book Of Mormon is the Word of God, just as the Holy Bible is. You will also see how Joseph Smith was called by God to be a prophet, and to restore Christ's church.

                                                                                                                                                                         

We read, For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep ^asleep, and hath closed your ^beyes: the ^cprophets and your rulers, the ^dseers hath he ^ecovered.

  11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a ^abook that is ^bsealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

  12 And the book is delivered to ^ahim that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

  13 ¶ Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people ^adraw near me with their ^bmouth, and with their lips do ^chonour me, but have ^dremoved their ^eheart far from me, and their ^ffear toward me is taught by the ^gprecept of men:

  14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a ^amarvellous ^bwork among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the ^cwisdom of their wise men shall ^dperish, and the ^eunderstanding of their ^fprudent men shall be hid.

And in 15-19 we also read, 15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their ^acounsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who ^bseeth us? and who knoweth us?

  16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the ^awork say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

  17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

  18 ¶ And in that ^aday shall the deaf hear the words of the ^bbook, and the ^ceyes of the blind shall see out of ^dobscurity, and out of darkness.

  19 The meek also shall increase their ^ajoy in the Lord, and the ^bpoor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

About me

Hello everyone! This is Elder Theodore Butler blogging to you today, and I just wanted to start off by giving you a  little bit of background about me. I am from Sacramento, California and I am serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Montana Billings Mission. I teach the Gospel Of Jesus Christ to people. I love food, video games, reading Sci-Fi, and most of all my Savior, Jesus Christ. My family and friends are very important to me because they keep my life interesting and full of adventure.

One thing that I love about teaching the Gospel Of Jesus Christ is being able to see the positive change that people make in their lives. I also love the change that it has brought to my life. If anyone is out there and wants to learn more about me and about the church feel free to post and comment on the blog.

I hope and pray that you all are having a good day. If you are going through some rough times right now, I know this scripture will be able to help you out. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus Christ said 28) "come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  May we all come unto Jesus Christ through His Gospel. I promise you that you will find the rest that you are looking for by turning to the Gospel .