Ephesians 4:11-14

On Christmas Day 2011, Elder Bednar spoke in the MTC about the character of Christ. I'm pretty sure that his talk has been shown to every single set of missionaries who has entered the MTC since then. It's the one where he compares the "natural man" to Cookie Monster ("I want cookie now! I want baptism now! I want marriage now!")

One of the things he shared in this talk is a technique he uses for studying the Book of Mormon and getting answers to his questions of the soul. He gets a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon and writes his question on the front or the sides of the book. And then he reads the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, looking for answers to his question. When he is finished, he writes a one-page summary of what he has learned. During the mission, our mission president challenged us to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, looking for every single example of the Atonement (i.e. a time when the Atonement of Jesus Christ enabled a person to do or become something that he or she could not have done or become on their own). As Elder Bednar promised, it changed my life.

The day that I flew home to New Mexico, I started a new copy with a second question: how to prepare for eternal family relationships. While reading about the Plan of Salvation in 2 Nephi, I was given guidance regarding how to work through challenges in courtship. Six months into the challenge, Bryan proposed to me and I joyfully said yes. As Elder Bednar promised, studying the Book of Mormon for an answer to a specific question of the soul changed my life.

On June 21, I started a new copy with my third question: how to spend time wisely. I have received little packets of inspiration that have guided me in deciding how to spend my time. Some of these packets of inspiration have been surprising: one morning, I was shown that I needed to pause my scripture study and go spend time with my husband.

Yesterday I was reading 2 Nephi 25:1, which says that a lot of people find it hard to understand the writings of Isaiah because they "know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews." At first, I wanted to be very smug and think things like, "Oh, well, I'm squared away, since I know about God's pattern of working and teaching through prophets." And then I remembered that complacency equals pride and so I decided to refresh my testimony and understanding of prophets by going to Chapter 3, Lesson 1 of Preach My Gospel.

One of the scripture references took me to Ephesians 4:11-14. I like this verse because it explains the WHY of calling apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. I also like it because it declares how long God will use this pattern. Here is what Paul said:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every windo of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive

Why do we need apostles, prophets, and all the other offices of the priesthood? The answer, for me, likes in verses 12 and 14: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up and strengthening of the whole church, so that we know the pure doctrine of Christ.

When will God stop calling apostles and prophets? The missionaries who taught me pointed out that verse 13 suggests that God will only stop giving us apostles and prophets when we have a unity of the  faith and knowledge of the Son of God and when we have realized perfection. That hasn't happened yet!

I know that these verses don't "prove" anything, but it was a very tender mercy for God to lead me to them and allow me to remember my own spiritual journey.

 

 

 

 

Romans 1: Apostles, grace, saints, faith, and apostasy

The Presbyterian pastor who spoke at my grandfather's funeral said that it was through reading Paul's epistle to the Romans that my grandfather gained a testimony of Jesus Christ as his Savior and Redeemer. In memory of my grandfather, I have decided to re-read this same epistle, and imagine that I am leading my grandfather through a bible study. Or imagine that he is leading some of his friends through a study and that he is helping them come to the same knowledge that he has.

I'm not a trained minister, so this is super informal. It's pretty much a verse-by-verse study of each chapter. I imagine Grampy reading one verse at a time, and at appropriate moments, asking the following questions:

Romans Chapter 1
As you read this chapter, pay attention to the attributes of Jesus Christ that Paul writes about. How can you develop these attributes in your own life?
(v. 1) How is being an apostle different from being a disciple?
(v. 1) It says in this verse that Paul is "called" to be an apostle. What does that mean? What is God's way of "calling" someone to be an apostle?
(v. 5) What does grace mean to you? Who is the source of grace?
(v. 5) Who is the source of apostleship?
(v. 7) Paul says that he is writing this apostle to "all that be in Rome" who are "called to be saints." What does that mean? And how do we become saints?

• Okay, I'm actually cheating with this question. One of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon explains what it means to be a "saint." It doesn't mean just being naturally perfect! Instead, Mosiah 3:19 says that a saint is someone who has put off the "natural man" by yielding to "the enticings of the Holy Spirit." A person can become "a saint [ONLY] through the atonement of  Christ." A saint has become "as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which The Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." 
• Isn't it cool how the Book of Mormon and the Bible support each other? Okay, end digression...back to Romans.

(v. 8) What is faith?
(v. 17) What does it mean to live by faith?
(v. 21-31) How does God feel about people who change His truths?
(v. 29-31) What happens to people who reject God's truth?

A wedding and a funeral

Two weeks ago, I was sealed for time and all eternity to a man who is perfect for me. A whole bunch of little things "went wrong" on the day of our wedding, but a whole bunch of BIG things went right. It was a really special day, and we both felt extremely loved by our family, friends, and Heavenly Father. My grampy was not able to attend due to his rapidly declining health, but I heard from my uncle Glenn that he wore a white shirt and the red "wedding party" tie that we sent up to him. My granny and grampy watched most of the day's celebrations via skype.

We are still waiting on the professional photographs, but here is one that Bryan's step-mom took of us as we joyfully exited the temple on Saturday afternoon!

Bryan and I spent five glorious days on a cruise-ship in the Caribbean. The day after we returned, my grampy passed away. 

This photo is from May 2009, when I graduated from college. Granny and Grampy drove all the way from Parker, Colorado to Tucson, Arizona so that they could attend my College of Science ceremony. My parents were attending my brothers' high school graduation, so it meant a lot that Granny and Grampy were willing to endure the 100-degree heat just to show their love and support to a granddaughter.

Yesterday, Bryan and I flew up to Denver to attend Grampy's service. It was great to see [nearly] the whole family rally around each other to provide support and remember what a patient and loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather Lewis Burrit Palmer was.

The pastor of Grampy's church mentioned that Grampy and Granny had both participated in a small Bible-study group that focused on the book of Romans, from the New Testament. Grampy really enjoyed it, and even led the discussion one week when the normal leader could not make it. The pastor said that reading Romans really helped Grampy come to know and understand that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I have decided to re-read that little book in the coming days. 

Back to the real world

Well, I'm back from the mission.  It's weird. I'm trying to acclimate to civilian life as best as I can, but it's still weird.

I'm dating the young man who wrote letters to me for eighteen months while I was living in Louisiana.

I have a job that pays the bills and keeps me moderately busy.  I teach with the sister missionaries in our YSA branch at least weekly.  I renewed my temple recommend.

I have a calling. I have a gym membership. I share a one bedroom, one bath apartment with a couple of periplanetae. I am taking a graduate course at UNM to see if I want to go to grad school one day.

I have to admit, that every aspect of my life is NOT focused on serving God. I try to involve Him in it, of course, but my main reason for dating my boyfriend is NOT to invite him to come unto Christ by helping him receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  Of course, I know that families are essential to God's plan for His children.

The Palmer clan! A few years ago...

But if God didn't want to choose someone who would make us (as individuals) happy to be our spouse, he wouldn't have let us do our own courting. Anyways, I digress....

I'd like to just keep writing on this blog, but my posts are gonna have to be a bit more secular than they were while I was a full-time missionary. Is that okay with y'all?