Happy 2015!

This week has taught me many powerful lessons. I'm going to try and share a few (or as they say in Washington "a couple 3" ... yeah still haven't figured out what that means. I asked a member and they don't know either...)

For Christmas the Bishop and his wife (love them like crazy) gave each of us missionaries a picture of a family being passed the sacrament. I was going to take a picture and attach it but I forgot so I'll do my best to describe it.

In this picture you see a young family, each on e of them with different reactions as the look at the person passing them the sacrament but its not them I want to focus on. Its who they are looking at. All you can see is the white sleeve and hand of  the man offering them the bread, but the arm isn't dressed in the sleeve of a white collared shirt. The arm is dressed in that of a white robe with a red sash at the shoulder. The sleeve lays just above the wrist allowing the beholder to see the marks of both hand and wrist left by nails.

I love this picture. Clearly the man passing the sacrament is our Savior Jesus Christ. During companion study a few days ago Sister Kramer was sharing a talk she had read called, "Being Christ's Hands", as she shared this my eye was caught by the picture and this thought came to me. "When the sacrament is being passed the tray is given to the first person and they then pass it to the next person." We can each sit in the place of the first person in that picture as Christ gives us the sacred gift of His Atonement. Christ is there handing us this amazing gift but as we see at church on Sundays He isn't physically standing in front of us holding the tray. We are to be Christ's hands. Not because Christ can't do it Himself but because its another one of the gifts Christ gives to us to be able to experience just the smallest portion of the love He has for each of us as we act as His hands serving, loving, and helping our brothers and sisters find their way to Him.

This brings me to the next thing I wanted to share. In my personal studies I decided I needed to improve myself in the area of charity. As I studied day after day I gained a better perspective of what charity is and how to get it. That's not what I want to talk to you about though. But I do encourage each of you to study it for yourself, and dig deep.

As I dug deep I found, 2 Nephi 26:30

"Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish."

As I read this it dawned on me that we have only been given ONE commandment. The rest are God breaking it down for us. If we look at the 10 commandments we can break them into two subcategories. Commandments 1-4 can be grouped in to the 1st great commandment discussed by Christ and the Pharisees in Matthew 22:36-38

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
 38 This is the first and great commandment.
while the other 6 can be grouped into the 2nd greatest commandment discussed in the next two verses
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Those two can be summarized by  2 Nephi 26:30. Charity is the pure love of Christ. LOVE is the ONLY commandment. I wanted to go deeper into this but I'm out of time so sorry! I will say this though. I have come to feel God's love on a whole different level. I have also come to learn love for others on an entirely different level. I was informed on Saturday that I will be leaving Olympia 4th and going to a new area. Words can't express the heart break that brought to me. If I had more time I would try but I do so I'll end with this. I am so grateful to have been blessed to have served in OLY 4th. Here I came to find home, I came to find family, I came to find myself, and most importantly in OLY 4th I came to find our Savior. Every heart ache, every laugh, every frustration, every smile. I will cherish forever. So until later I will say farewell but part of my heart will forever be in OLY 4th. I'm sad to go but excited to see what miracles God reveals in Kitsap Lake.
Here's my new address!
4349 Erlands Point Rd. Bremerton, WA. 98312
I pray 2015 brings you each peace and happiness and you find your way closer to Christ.