Semana 27

Dear Elder Lutze,

We continue to pray for you, your companion, and your area. Another busy week. I was here busy with work and Dad was busy in SG. He met with different contractors and finished a number of the drop down ceilings. He has to go back down this week for the tub. Because of the storm, it was delayed and now won’t be here until at least Tuesday. 

I’ve spent my time with Hannah and Foster at Thanksgiving Point on Monday watching Diver play at the museum of Natural Curiosity and then we ate ice cream. He wore it!!!  

I did a speed friend shipping activity with the YW on Tuesday evening. 

Wednesday through Saturday I was sick. I probably picked something up at Thanksgiving point. I still managed to shovel snow. I had to clear space to park the van. We had a 2 foot drift in the driveway. I also went to the temple with the YW leaders on Saturday. I rested in between all of this and actually watched The Chosen! It’s amazing! You have to watch it when you’re home! It’s truly how I think of Christ!

I love you and pray unceasingly for you!

 Mom

I loved these thoughts on being a disciple and keeping our covenants this week.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that being a valiant disciple of the Savior means not just avoiding sin but actively doing good:

“Failing to be valiant in Christian discipleship will leave us without significant happiness. Therefore, our active avoidance of wickedness must be followed by our active engagement in righteousness. Then we can come to know true joy—after all, man is that he ‘might have joy’ (2 Nephi 2:25).

“It is very often the sins of omission that keep us from spiritual wholeness because we still lack certain things. Remember the rich, righteous young man who came to Jesus asking, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’ …

“A customized commandment thus came for that man [see Matthew 19:21–22]. It was something he needed to do, not something he needed to stop doing, that kept him from wholeness” (“The Pathway of Discipleship” [Brigham Young University fireside, Jan. 4, 1998], 4; speeches.byu.edu).

President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reminded us of the great sacrifices made by the Latter-day Saints who were required to leave their homes and cross the plains, and he taught that their spiritual power came from keeping their gospel covenants:

“We often hear of the suffering and the sacrifice those early Saints endured, and we ask ourselves, How did they do it? … Those early Latter-day Saints had made covenants with God, and those covenants burned like unquenchable fire in their hearts.

“Sometimes we are tempted to let our lives be governed more by convenience than by covenant. It is not always convenient to live gospel standards and stand up for truth and testify of the Restoration. It usually is not convenient to share the gospel with others. It isn’t always convenient to respond to a calling in the Church, especially one that stretches our abilities. Opportunities to serve others in meaningful ways, as we have covenanted to do, rarely come at convenient times. But there is no spiritual power in living by convenience. The power comes as we keep our covenants” (“Like a Flame Unquenchable,” Ensign, May 1999, 86).