WEEK 85 - PRAISE YE the LORD

This week was awesome!!

Good morning universe and all that inhabit it. This is your favorite missionary serving in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission that—unless you're part of my family—isn't your own kin. In other words, it's me again, Elder Z.S.Weber. I'm here today to tell you, as I did in the short exclamation at the top, that this week was awesome. Really, it was. There were a few reasons for this—some spiritual, some temporal—but when you get down to it, a good week is a good week, no matter whether it's because you got a great care package from your family, you taught a good lesson to an investigator, or you just had some really good studies over the last week (all of those are true for me right now, just FYI).

So, with that said and done, let's move on to the week, starting off with Tuesday. Tuesday started out like how most days as a missionary go—we got up, I did a light work-out for about a half-hour, and we got into our studies. Then, after our studies were done, we changed into our service clothes, grabbed the Harmony Elders, and headed out to a new service opportunity we had been given. One of the member families in Prairie Ridge had just finished pruning some bushes, and needed some strong young men to come and pull the stumps out of the ground. Seeing as the Priest's quorum wasn't available, due to school, we were suggested to help out.

Now, I've dug up stumps before—mostly during my seven-and-a-half-month sojourn in Erie, Colorado—and the stumps I had to take care of, while still tough to remove, were large enough to maneuver well around and find an effective way to de-stump them. These stumps weren't those stumps. These stumps were just short little things that were just barely sticking up out of the ground. However, though the stumps were short, the roots were VERY long, to the point where we just couldn't find a good place to uproot it. Having grown tired of just digging, we got the permission of the family we were helping to use their chain-spear (which is to say, a small chainsaw on a long pole) to just cut the stump out and then bury the hole.

And we still aren't done with all of the stumps, either...

However, though we couldn't finish the work, we promised that we would come back, probably around Thursday and finish what we started. Well, that was a great plan...until Elder Anderson and I looked outside Wednesday morning and saw a full-blown blizzard howling outside. About an hour later, the Zone Leaders sent out a mass text to the Zone saying that it was too hazardous to go outside, so today was going to be a stay-indoors-and-study day. Of course, there were some that didn't listen to the Zone Leaders (one companionship tried biking in the snow...they couldn't even make it halfway across their driveway) but for the most part, we heeded our leaders' words.

However, one can only study the word of God for so long before you get tired. Even the epic and powerful War Chapters of Alma start to get a little long and tiresome after the second hour or so. So, rather than just end up spending the rest of the day staring at the ceiling thinking of things to do, I decided to pick up my old hobby of story writing. Now, no, I wasn't able to get a whole story written—it was just something fun to do to keep my mind off of how many hours we had been stuck indoors. However, while my intent wasn't to write an epic novel in only a few hours, it was very wonderful for me to see that my skills as an author still existed, and even after two years of not seriously writing, I could still write well.

After the snow stopped falling, and the sun rose on Thursday morning, we were expected to return to our missionary work as usual. With the snow on the ground, though, our plans of de-stumping the stumps at the other members' home weren't going to pull through. So, instead, we decided to do something that I have been meaning to get to all transfer but haven't been able to yet—Exchanges. Once more, I was with Elder Christenot, but this time we spent the day in my area. We actually had a few great experiences while out and about. Between shoveling others' driveways and teaching short messages with less-active members that took pity on us and let us in to get some hot cocoa, Thursday went very well.

Friday...started off a little less epically than Thursday did. After we had exchanged back and started getting ready for our lessons, we realized that one of our phones, the phone for the Prairie Ridge Elders, had gone missing. After much digging and searching—searching that made our apartment look like three tornados had a party playing Twister in our living room—we found out that Elder Christenot still had the phone, and had accidentally left it in his robe before packing up at the end of our exchange. So, thankfully, we were able to find the phone and then rush off for our next appointment with Sister Salmond's fiancé, Duane.

And that brings me to what was definitely the most epic part of my week. Friday, we had decided to teach Duane the Gospel of Jesus Christ (for those that don't know what that is, I think I know two young men in your area that can help you learn), and once we got to the part about baptism, we would invite him to be baptized. I was a bit hesitant at first, but as we taught the lesson and shared our knowledge and understanding with him, I felt the Spirit calmly confirm to me that this would go alright, that it was more than time to invite Duane to be baptized. So, after rousing some courage within myself, I decided to be the one to ask the question;

"Duane, will you follow the Savior's example, and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority?"

When we asked that question, Duane pretty much made a dodge move. However, in his dodge, he revealed to us some of his concerns—concerns that if he was baptized in the wrong church, he would come to regret it the rest of his life. At that point, Sister Salmond decided to speak up, and she bore a powerful testimony to Duane about the importance of baptism and how she knew how wonderful it would be for him to be completely cleaned. As she bore her testimony, the Spirit just filled the room we were in, and if I'm not mistaken, even Duane started to get a little weepy. Now, when Sister Salmond finished bearing her testimony and we left, Duane still hadn't accepted a firm baptismal date...but he didn't say no, either. So, I'm hopeful that when we next meet, he'll find that he is more ready than he first thought he was.

That actually brings me to my message for the week. Last week, I mentioned that the church had come out with a new Easter video, #Hallelujah. However, I didn't really go too in depth about the video, or what is so important to me about the video.

First, let's take the word. Hallelujah. If we're reading from the Old Testament prophets, we're sure to come across this word more than a few times, and if we're listening to great gospel music (especially Handel's Messiah), we're sure to exclaim it a few times with the choir singing as we're blasting it while driving to an appointment (okay, that one's just a missionary thing, but still). However, what does hallelujah even mean? In the Hebrew language, hallelujah is a word said in great praising. Literally, it means, "Praise be to Yahweh," or in other words, "Praise be to Jehovah." So, with that said, what reason do we have, from the video, to "Praise ye the Lord"?

The answer—every reason, but especially the atonement. My thoughts go back to the words in the Book of Isaiah, where Isaiah foresees the life of the Lord. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted....he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5) With his stripes, we are healed. Christ, of his own volition, came down to earth, not just to teach and not just to lead others, but to do the unthinkable. To do the impossible. He completed the atonement, which allowed him to become our proxy for the weight of our sins and afflictions.

I have another scripture. Alma 7:11-13. "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me."

Through Christ's atonement, we are healed. And not just healed, and not just cleaned, but everything about us can be changed and made better. He suffered, not just to take away our sin, but so that when we do sin, when we do fall short, and when we are encircled about by the mists of darkness, he could be there with us to help us stand back up again and walk back to the rod of iron. He could only do that if he experienced the full weight of the world on his shoulders. It was an impossible feat to perform, and even for the Son of God, it was something so painful that it caused him to bleed from every pore. But regardless of the pain, regardless of the anguish, Christ pushed through, because this atonement was for each and every one of us.

 

That is why we say hallelujah. That is why we show so much joy over both Easter and Christmas. Through Christ's birth, death, and resurrection, we now know that this road isn't a road we are walking alone. We have a Savior walking beside us every step of the way, and sometimes carrying us on his shoulders when we are too weak to walk ourselves even a step forward. I bear my witness of this truth, and with joy in my heart exclaim, as did the ancient prophets of old, "Praise ye the Lord, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind!" This I say, in his holy name, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

—Elder Z.S.Weber