I Hope I'm A Missionary Again Soon!!

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 to make a touchdown... someone tell me if this is anything near right haha.

In Mosiah 8 it explains a little more about why a prophet is so special. I really like verse 18 that says "Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings." Wow. A great benefit. All we have to do is listen and heed his counsel. Lastly, I like to compare John 10:27 with D&C 1:38. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me"; "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." If we are his sheep, we will recognize that it is his counsel. We will know that the words of our Prophet Russell M. Nelson are revelation from God. I invite you all to ponder on his words and heed his counsel!

The Danger of Comparison... hefty. I'm gonna keep this short but I hope you all think about this. The feelings we can feel due to comparing ourselves don't have a possibility of being happy or joyful. Let's think of a couple: judgement, anxiety, sadness, frustration, pride, etc. Feel free to think of a few others. And when we compare ourselves to others these feelings won't satisfy us to be the beloved children of God that we want to be- that we are. Comparison will never bring us true Joy. In a BYU devotional it discussed a story where a Mother told her daughter that she could do everything she could to "make herself pretty" then once she stepped out the door... she needed to focus on others. In Matthew 10:39 it says "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." When we turn away from thinking about ourselves, trying our best not to compare ourselves with others, we can find true Joy. Him that stops worrying about himself, how he looks-how he seems to others, and turns to serve someone else and think of them. He will find True Joy. 

My companion and I are reteaching an I active member from México, his younger brother, who is currently serving a mission, referred him to us. We have had a couple lessons with him, but this last week we were able to have his brother ans his companion join us in a lesson! It was just amazing, you could tell how happy they were and you just can't experience that much if you aren't a missionary. It is just so cool to see just how important families are! 

My question of the week is: How do you know that Russell M. Nelson is the current prophet?