Kendrick, Jessica

Haha any guesses about what I studied this week?? Tithing!  Sometimes we think of tithing as hard... and I understand. Obviously, not as much as others, but I get it...but let me tell you what I learned this week!! First, Doctrine & Covenants 119:5, "tithed of their surplus properties." Surplus means a quantity much larger than needed, desired, or required. To put things simply, God knows what we need and want, sometimes it takes a little faith, but we can trust that we will have what we need after we pay our tithing. And... second, D&C 29:34, "not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal." During the first few months of my mission, I had the opportunity to go to a personal finance class to translate for a member, and there was one thing that really stuck with me that I learned: everything can and should be tied back God, everything is spiritual, even things like money, and our jobs. There was a quote I read from a talked titled "Tithi...

This week was a quick one! But I studied the Word of Wisdom!!!  The definition of Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, understanding or common sense and insight. And our loving Heavenly Father definitely is wise! 2 Nephi 2:24 says " in the Wisdom of him who knoweth all things." Our Father in heaven is all-knowing, and all-loving. Which is why he gave us this word of advice... this Word of Wisdom. He gave us this amazing law so that we can know how to have strong bodies that can withstand trials and temptations! It's completely for us. It reminds me of something I've had to explain to people sometimes... the missionaries don't get anything if you read the Book of Mormon or if you pray, or come to church, but we are giving them "advice" so that they can know for themselves of the joy and freeness of the Gospel! It's the same thing with God. What does he get if we keep the Word of Wisdom? Maybe some joy? We recieve so many blessings whe...

Happy Mothers day!!! We had zone conference this week... and we talked about true love. More specifically we talked about how true love always has high expectations. We can see this in our own earthly relationships as well as our relationship with our Loving Heavenly Father.  During Zone Conference our AP's gave a really good analogy that I'd like to share with you: Rock Climbing!!! They had a good picture to explain it better. But when you're rock climbing there is one person that is the lead climber and they put in place the lead rope. That was Jesus Christ; that was his condescension. The people after use the lead rope to guide them and to catch them when they fall. That's us. There is also the person at the bottom who is holding rope so that just in case we slip or we need help finding a grip he can help us and catch us. That's also Jesus Christ. He does all of this out of Love. But just because he loves us, doesn't mean that we don't have to do anything...

This week I studied the 10 commandments. And honestly for the first half of the week it was half-hearted. Sorry... but when I started to actually look- actually study, I learned something new. I guess that's the power of studying, searching the scriptures.  I think it's really cool how there are two other names for the 10 commandments: the tables of covenant and the testimony. Honestly, that makes perfect sense. For example, in Alma, when he is explaining to the people about Faith and how they just have to exercise even a particle of faith on his words they can receive more, when we try to keep the commandments daily we are able to strengthen our testimony. If we want to know if something is true... you have to try it out. I also like the name the tables of covenant for the same reason... it just makes sense. When we are obeying God's commandments we are obeying our covenant, and he is "bound" when we do what he says! One thing that also just clicked in my head wa...

This week was such an amazing week... because you don't get to experience these things without being a missionary!  I studied two different things this week: Follow the prophet and the Danger of Comparison. What is a Prophet? Someone called of God to recieve revelation to guide the children of God on earth. I love Jeremiah 1:10 and the image it paints of the work of a Prophet. "See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." The job that the prophet does cannot be easy. Rooting out the bad, while building and planting. But he's such a blessing to us. The guidance that he gives us is irreplaceable! Forgive me if this is a bad analogy... I've never been on the inside of a football game... but its like getting to know the play by play of the other team. Knowing what they are trying to do, and receiving the information for what you need to do to avoid them ...