Open Your Mouths

Hello Everyone, it was around 60 degrees yesterday, now we're back to the 30's again.  If you ever dislike the weather in Upstate New York, wait 5 minutes and it'll get worse.  

This week I'd like to talk a little bit about a subject that's been on my mind lately.  We've been focusing on finding here in Liverpool since two of the people we were teaching regularly have now been baptized and we find ourselves in need of finding new investigators.  One of the best ways I've been able to find people on my mission has been through OYM-ing, or street contacting.  I can't tell you how many times I've stomped up and down busy streets at all times of the day and how many miles I've put on my shoes.  

But one of the hardest things to do is to actually say something to the people that you come in contact with.  Being outside and walking is hard enough, but actually talking with people is often where this opportunity to find becomes and opportunity to walk around aimlessly.  As I've thought over my mission and all of the walking and talking that I've done, I had the thought come to mind "Well I'm willing to talk with people, that's not as hard as my mind makes it seem.  But what out of the entire scope of the gospel can I share with THIS person in particular?"  I pondered for a while and turned to one of my favorite scriptures about opening your mouth, namely Doctrine and Covenants 33:8.

"Open your mouths and they shall be filled, and you shall become even as Nephi of old, who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness."

All I have to do to be like Nephi is to open my mouth?  Just tell me where to sign!

But as most, if not all, of us have come to find out, having an open mouth while you're walking around is only going to guarantee you a few bugs to fly to the back of your throat.  To ensure blessings akin to those received by Nephi there is more we must do.  And oddly enough as scriptures have a habit of doing, they expounded the problem of "Well I can't just open my mouth and have it be filled by any old idea.  What guideline could I have to base whatever I say off of."  In the following verses, specifically verses 10 and 11, this guideline is given:

"10 Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying:Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;

 11 Yea, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for a remission of your sins; yea, be baptized even by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost."

We could exactly copy the above phrases, which would carry all of the principles that need to be conveyed, but as I was reading I noticed that this phrase is nothing more or less than a brief summary of the Doctrine of Christ.  Well this helps me as a missionary and is then necessarily a help to all members of the Church.  If we teach or preach on a gospel subject in a missionary manner, it should in some way relate back to the Doctrine of Christ.  If you think about most questions that arise, they can all be tied back to the Doctrine of Christ in some fashion.  The Doctrine of Christ is the thesis statement for the gospel, and as such can be tied to any point found therein.  

Isn't it amazing how much beauty can be found in simplicity?  I think it is.  

But I hope you have a great week, I'll write to you all soon!

Love, Elder Gailey

Oh Be Wise

Hello Everyone, sorry it's been a little while since I've last written.  

Getting transferred, and settling in a new place can be kind of tough, but it's made easier when you're sent to a great place.  I recently got transferred to Liverpool, NY.  It's just a hop, skip, and a jump North of Syracuse.  This place is great, though the weather is working against us.  We recently dropped from lovely weather in the upper 30's and the low 40's to anywhere between 5 and -25, not including the windchill.  It got chilly very quick, but this February is better than the last, so we've got that going for us.

This week I want to write a little bit about the response we received from our Mission President regarding the cold.  We received a text on Saturday informing us of the very poor conditions, to which we responded "No duh, we have icicles INSIDE our house", and informed us that we probably shouldn't just be wandering outside finding all day.  Unfortunately that's what we had planned, so our day was kind of sunk, so we did paperwork and kept ourselves busy and as free from Cabin Fever as we could get.  Sunday rolls around and we're determined to work, even though it was colder outside.  Despite our determination, other missionaries, many of them newer to the mission and unfamiliar with how brutal New York winters can be, began asking if they should stay inside as well.  Since a good number of missionaries asked, we decided to ask the Mission President, to which we were referenced to Jacob 6:12 "O be wise; what can I say more".  The message was simple and direct, and we passed it along to the Zone.  

How simple a phrase, but how grand a concept.  We all, to some degree or another, are wise.  We have been given the Light of Christ which enlightens and enlivens us and grants unto us the ability to know good from evil.  As we choose either side, we gain experience and wisdom.  And all of us reach point in our lives where we are simply commanded to "be wise", because we have the experience and foreknowledge to make correct decisions.  God trusts us.  He knows when we can make a correct choice on our own and oft times this means we may flounder a little bit in the water until we realize that for now we can stay afloat on our own.  

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in a BYU address in 1981 emphasized this point extremely well: "[Not receiving an answer to prayer] only means that we have prayed about a decision which, for one reason or another, we should make without guidance by revelation. Perhaps we have asked for guidance in choosing between alternatives that are equally acceptable or equally unacceptable. I suggest that there is not a right and wrong to every question."

The Lord wants us to be agents unto ourselves, and I've seen this more clearly manifest on my mission as I decide how to spend my days.  There are many honorable ways to do missionary work, and sometimes the Lord simply wants me to learn and make choices on my own.  Just as in missionary work, in every other aspect of our lives our Father in Heaven seeks of us to learn and to grow on our own, and has provided us ways to learn knowledge and wisdom so that we can make the correct choices that lead us to him.  

I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Gailey

All Things Unto Me Are Spiritual

Hello Everyone, apparently NYC is getting a lot of snow so everyone assumes we have a ton.  Nope, I still see grass outside.  Yeah it's cold and the wind is awful, but no snow!

I'm going to take some time now to create a scenario:

Imagine you're on the varsity [insert sport here] team back in High School.  You performed well in the tryouts and easily made the team.  You've got your jersey and you're feeling pretty good about yourself.  During the season you play your games and tend to come out on top.  Not always, but more often than not you do pretty well in your games.  One day you're invited to a tournament from outside your region, you accept and show up to the tournament, unaware of who you'll be up against.  You walk onto the [court/pitch/field/arena] and wait for the opposing team.  Eventually the opposing team enters and you realize that you're playing against world class athletes, not High School students.  The game begins and immediately you are shown how the game is really played.  

A situation like the one above took place not too long ago in our mission.  Out mission has a lot of great missionaries.  There are a great deal of missionaries that are dedicated, obedient, faithful, and loving.  I feel as though a lot of us assumed that we were doing pretty good, I know I did.  So when the opportunity arose to learn about Chapter 8 in Preach My Gospel titled "How Do I Use Time Wisely?", I was excited, but felt that I was already competent in my planning and preparation skills.  To play into the scenario above I walked right into the match with a little swagger in my steps thinking that I'm well prepared and capable.  Nope.  Before my mission I would likely have said that I was got 'shown up' by the instructors from Salt Lake City.  But I've realized that instead of showing me up they instead showed me how.  It was in no way they're intention to crush what effort I was putting in, but to help me reach higher levels.  There's a very large difference between showing someone up and showing someone how, but sometimes it can be hard to discern.  

I was shown, not just taught or told, how to plan effectively.  Examples were given, videos were shown, and the Spirit was felt in great measure.  Leaving the training session I felt in awe of how far I yet had to go to reach the level of proficiency in planning that I want to have.  But I was shown that it was possible to reach that, so I determined to become better.  And since that moment I have gained a greater understanding of verse 34 from the 29th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which reads:

"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created."

These principles of planning and goal setting are eternal and spiritual.  The application for missionaries is specific and direct, but the general principles lead to wonderful growth, and more importantly growth and improvement in the areas the Lord thinks we need work on.  It's my hope that I'll get down the principles of Chapter 8 well enough to be a blessing in the lives of those that I serve so that when I return home eventually I will have the skills and experience necessary to do great things in my life and be a blessing in the lives of those around me.  

Preach My Gospel teaches amazing things.  For those of you that teach classes, study Chapter 10. For those of you that struggle with effective personal study of the scriptures, read Chapter 2.  If you feel that you want your prayers to be more heartfelt, read the Pray with Faith section in Chapter 4.  If you want to use time more wisely, for the amount of time we have on this Earth is unpredictable, then a thorough study of Chapter 8 and the principles found therein will help and bless you throughout your life.  I know that Preach My Gospel is a tool for members and missionaries, and teaches correct and eternal principles and I challenge you that if you don't include it in your study to use it now and again.  It explains things with clarity and power, and is a wonderful study guide and reference material.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Gailey

Humility and Wisdom

Hello Everyone!

Recently I've stared up a practice that I had at the beginning of my mission, and that is writing down a list of things I want to study, or things that caught my eye that warrant further reading and investigation.  Today's post is the result of that practice.  

As I was reading through the 32nd chapter of Alma, where Alma gives a great discourse on faith and how the word of God can be likened unto a seed, verse 12 caught my eye.  

"I say unto you, it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye should learn wisdom; for it is because that ye are cast out, that ye are despised of your brethren because of your exceeding poverty, that ye are brought to a lowliness of heart; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble."

As I read through this verse my mind made a connection between the attributes of wisdom and humility; or between the acts of being humbled and learning wisdom.  This was a connection that I hadn't given much thought to before now, but it sparked my interest enough to lead on a scripture chase to find more answers concerning the subject.  

I suppose the first point to bring up is why we need to be humbled.  In most cases we have need to be humbled because we aren't living a commandment or principle, either at all or in as great of a measure as our Heavenly Father would have us live it.  We need to be humbled so that we can learn to pray more earnestly, or to truly search and ponder upon the scriptures, to learn how to take council from the Lord and not to try and council him.  In his talk "Beware of Pride" Ezra Taft Benson makes the statement that "The Lord will have a humble people" and much as Alma declares in chapter 32, we can either choose to be humble or compelled to be humble.  One of the many reasons that the Lord will have a humble people is that the humble are malleable, prepared, and softened that they might hear, understand, and act upon the word of God.  

As in the previous line, there are three main types of people:

1. Those that merely hear the word, much like those that only heard the story when Christ taught in parables.  They only saw the surface content, and didn't probe any deeper.

2. Those who heard and understood the word that took the time and consideration to probe deeper into the teachings of Christ and of the prophets.  Understanding is a good first step, for it empowers the pupil far more than in just hearing a nice story.  But an understanding is not enough in the perspective of eternity

3.  These are they who hear the word, cherish and understand it, and become doers of the word.  They get down to business and work.  In one of my favorite quotes currently, Vaughn J. Featherstone relates the difference between understanding, and doing:

"The teacher or leader must not only be first in knowledge, in prophecy, and in understanding the mysteries, but he must also be first in performance. I believe that it is not only an offense to the people but also an offense to God when priesthood leaders, teachers, and members of the Church never really get down and serve the people, do not do their duty, do not magnify their callings, and do not fill their stewardships. We ought to bend our backs in our callings in such a way that our words and teachings are always racing to keep up with our acts." 

 ("Charity Never Faileth", Vaughn J. Featherstone, BYU Speeches Feb 1979)

If we are truly humble, we will become doers of the word that we might come to know of the doctrine more fully (John 7:17).  In ways we all embody the above three attributes.  We all at times merely hear the words, but don't comprehend.  Or we understand what is being said, but we don't bother to act.  But when we hear, understand, and apply our hearts to understanding as Abinidi teaches in Mosiah 12:27, then we are truly wise indeed.  

The Lord will have us be humble, so that we can learn to apply ourselves in a way that blesses us, and those around us.  It is truly in action that we learn wisdom, but if we, as imperfect beings, were never humbled we would never have a reason to change our ways for we would see no need to.  I know that being humbled isn't the greatest feeling, because it means that we were wrong and have had to check our pride.  But the feelings of joy and the comforts of the Spirit that come as we align our will step by step with God's will far outweigh the momentary discomforts of admitting that we aren't as perfect as we'd like to believe.  

I love you all, and hope that you have a great week!

Love, Elder Gailey

A Savior is Born

Hello Everyone, and Merry Christmas!

We got snow finally in Ballston Spa, it looked like someone just spilled a bag of powdered sugar on the grass and it was gone by 9:00am BUT IT WAS SNOW NONETHELESS.

Anyways, as promised here are some thoughts on the Christmas Season we're at the height of currently.  I was recently asked to give a Christmas thought at a Mission Christmas Conference that we had, so turning to the Book of Mormon I began thumbing through the pages following the sign in the heavens that the Son of God had been born.  Not finding what I felt was important I continued skimming the pages, going past the signs of his coming, the destruction following his death, and continued on through his ministration to the children of Lehi.  Just before I turned a page, a verse in the bottom corner caught my eye.  It turned out to be the first verse of 3 Nephi 23 which reads:

"And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search [the writings of Isaiah]. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah."

So I thought to myself "Fair enough" and promptly repeated the process I had begun in 3 Nephi in the book of Isaiah.  Skimming through chapter by chapter, reading the summaries and key verses.  And truly Isaiah's writings are full of testimony concerning the coming of Christ.  Many marvelous words, penned by an ancient prophet, still hold amazing weight to us in our days, and I echo the Savior's request to search diligently the words of Isaiah.  But the search I was on continued chapter by chapter until I reached chapter 40 of Isaiah.  One verse of this messianic chapter stood out to me in bright contrast and turned into the inspiration for the noted Christmas thought and this post.  The verse in question is verse 21 which reads:

"Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?"

I think at one point or another I've described my love for questions in scripture.  I love them.  They sink deep into my hearts and cause reflection upon my actions and understanding.  This particular verse poses 4 questions in rapid succession that can be posed at anybody concerning Christ, or in this case the Christmas Season.  Concerning this Christmas season we could easily modify the questions to the following:

Don't you know the reason we celebrate?

Have you not heard the "glad tidings of great joy"?

Hasn't this message been shared since the beginning?

Have you not sought to understand this message?

In growing depth these questions simply probe as to our understanding of this wondrous season.  It's a great gift that Christmas comes each year and wasn't just a one-time-deal for the reason that it gives us a chance to reflect upon his birth, upon the mortal beginnings of the Son of God.  It is a special time of year that carries with it joy, peace, and love to all those to seek to understand the import of those angelic words spoken millennia ago: 

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men"

Coming to mortal men was their Savior, the one who could bring personal peace, lasting happiness, and indescribable joy.  What tidings could be more joyous and glad?  It is my testimony that this Christmas season is special, but only becomes such as we grow in understanding of our Savior.  This season is special because it's His season.  It's my desire, for me and you, that we will come to feel the joy and love that this Christmas Season has to offer as we draw nearer to our Savior.  Seek him diligently like the Wise Men of old who traveled far to meet their Redeemer, or like the shepherds who made haste to behold the Babe of Bethlehem.

I love you all, and I love this wonderful season and all that it brings with it.  Merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Gailey

Christmas Time

Hello Everyone, it's almost Christmas, but alas there isn't any snow on the ground here in Ballston Spa.  It looks like the Midwest got our share of the snow for this December.  Sorry!

But simply this week I'd like to direct you all to the wonderful videos, music, and inspirational messages that are on the Church's Christmas website this year.  I invite all of you to share a video, or simply remind yourself of the true meaning of Christmas by watching the videos and inviting the Spirit to be a part of your life this Christmas Season.  Next week I'll take some more time and type out my thoughts, impressions, and feelings on the Christmas Season.  

Link: https://www.mormon.org/christmas

My personal favorite video so far has been The Prayer with David Archuleta & Nathan Pacheco

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Gailey

Fasting and Rejoicing

Hello Everyone!  

Snow Report: Still nothing, but it's cold.  

This week I'd like to take a moment to talk about fasting, considering it was for members of the church a Fast Sunday this past Sunday.  While reading in the Doctrine and Covenants I commenced in reading Section 59 which was often referred to as a revelation geared on "instructing the Saints how to keep the Sabbath and how to fast and pray” (Heading to D&C Section 50).  Included in this section are great passages that talk about attending our meetings and the feelings and works we should have and do as we go about this holy day.  

As I was reading, one verse stood out to me that opened my understanding to one of the great side-effects of fasting and prayer:

"Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer." (D&C 50:14)

Now there's a phrase I had seldom seen paired with fasting, rejoicing.  Within the walls of my head there has been a distinct line drawn between going without food and water, and being happy or rejoicing.  In almost all circumstances these two ideas were conflicting and polar opposites in my mind.  But apparently this is evidence of God's ways being higher than my ways.  Fasting, just as with all other things God brings to light or institutes, has a divine and multi-faceted purpose that I had failed to see, or at least failed to comprehend.  

Before this life we had no body.  We had no hunger, thirst, or fatigue.  Fasting as we know it wasn't an option for us.  We didn't have the option to go without food or water because we frankly didn't need the physical requirements necessary for sustaining life.  When we entered this life we suddenly had to cope with all of the problems that accompany a mortal body.  Along with that comes the responsibility to treat it well.  We can see how misuse of these bodies and poor treatment of them can hinder lifespan, physical activity, and happiness.  Fasting is a way for us to maintain control over the base impulses that are intrinsic in all people.  As far as fasting goes, God could have easily made fasting not of food or water, but of Diet Coke or of strawberries or naps.  But not all people have a natural draw to Diet Coke, strawberries, or naps (I certainly do though), so God gave us the law of the fast in such a way as to make this commandment a true sacrifice for all people.  In this way, God wants us to rejoice and have opportunities to overcome the overarching natural man as a way to learn self-mastery for our specific impulses and desires.  Through fasting we are able to learn the stepping stones for greater self-mastery later on.  For if we're not able to give up something as simple, and for many of us within the United States as plentiful, as food and water, how will we ever gain the desire or drive to give up more difficult habits and imperfections?  

Fasting is a truly inspired law, given to us that we might learn how to become more perfected.  Our Father in Heaven wants us to be agents unto ourselves, and has provided many guides and stepping stones for us to learn how to do so.  Truly in strengthening the spirit and gaining self-control we find cause to rejoice.  We are able to "cleanse the inner vessel" to more adequately cleanse the outer as well (Alma 60:23).  I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Elder Gailey