Surprise!
The only reason I didn't get an email out last week was that my wifi wasn't functioning and I couldn't get it to send in time. So hopefully you've got that one and now we can move on to a brief one from this week.
Things took a pretty sharp turn for sure. I went from super great to having a lot of frustration with myself and where I felt I was at in a matter of hours, so that wasn't good. Luckily, we had interviews with President Love last Tuesday, so I was able to work through that quickly and get a lot of ideas as to how I can improve and grow. Rather than go too much into the here and there of what happened last week, I'd like to share a thought that comes from a lesson we taught this week.
One of the most profound stories that I love so much, is that of Moses and the Brazen Serpent. As Moses and the Children of Israel are out trodding in through the barren wilderness, murmuring, unfortunately, the Lord sent fiery serpents which bit a whole bunch of poor folks. Probably hurt pretty bad, but luckily the Lord provided Moses yet another way to perform a miracle and preserve His people. Gathering what he could, Moses fashioned a brass serpent and put it on top of a staff under the Lord's command. Now here's the good part, all anyone had to do to survive the nasty bite and relieve their pain, was look at the darn serpent. It was right there. Moses was probably shaking it around, begging people to just look. While some did (and were immediately healed by the way), others didn't listen and left their mortal existence because of it. It's a shame, huh? Now if we pull this all back to ourselves, we know that the Brazen Serpent represented Jesus Christ and His ultimate sacrifice. Moses was a prophet of God, just as we have a prophet today alongside scripture. Unfortunately, we've all been bitten by the pitiful plague of sin. There's no avoiding it entirely, but as always, our Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to ease those throbbing pains. Look unto Christ and live. He has made up the difference. He has felt our pains so we don't have to, but He doesn't force anything upon us. We've been gifted with agency, for we "are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27). Christ is begging for us to look, He sends prophets in the past, present, and future to do the same. He loves us eternally, but cannot force His Atonement upon us, nor soothe our afflictions without humbling ourselves before Him. In fine, "Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd... And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you, and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed" (Alma 5:38,60). I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that He loves us individually, as a representative of Him, I'm waving my metaphorical stick and snake, begging for you to look. It's not that difficult, simply LOOK TO THE LORD AND LIVE.
Elder Shepherd
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