Monday, April 18, 2011

The Work of the Lord is Going Forth . . .

Dear Brethren,
This last week has been a good one, and the work of the Lord is going forth in Broken Bow. We are starting to see more success, which is great!
I do not have much to say this week, but I hope all of you are doing great. I definitely have all of you in mind, and I cannot wait to see you all again. I'm sorry I don't have anything else to say, but the life of a missionary often is quite repetetive. I'll strive to find some good insight to share on my next email. I do get to give a talk in church this coming Sunday, so I'm sure I'll probably do a bit of preaching. Love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

The Words of Alma . . .

(Sons of Mosiah Blog 4/13/11; Likening Alma Chapter 26 unto us:)



"And now, these are the words of [Elder Petersen taken from the words of Ammon] to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of [Lehi] that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren [the Gentiles, and the Lamanites, and the people of the world] were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. Behold, thousands [will] rejoice, and [will be] brought into the fold of God. Behold, the field [is] ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye...thrust in your sickle, and...reap with your might, yea all the day long [do] ye labor...Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever. For if we had not come up out of the land of [Lehi], these our brethren, who have so dearly beloved us...[would] still be racked with hatred...yea, and they would also have been strangers to God.
Behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. Behold, how many...of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice? Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell. Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.
And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent. Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing--unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.
[Brethren] we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.
Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren...and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world--not upon the mercies of the world lone but upon the mercies of God.
Now have we not reason to rejoice?...Yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people.
Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen"
(Alma 26:1-5, 8, 11-16, 20-22, 30-31, 27-28, 35-37)

Rob Morin was set for baptism this week in Broken Bow, for the 14th of May. I cannot wait to bring yet another soul into the fold of Christ. Rob also has a fiance we will be working with, and a one-year old son named Isaiah. As well, his fiance's mother will hopefully come. Brethren, what a great work we are engaged in. I hope we do not forget it. I love you all! Keep safe, keep faithful.
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Sons of Mosiah . . .

Dear Brethren,

I have today scripture I wish to share with you, of sorts. Nephi
instructed us to liken the scriptures unto ourselves. One day, as I
was a little down, I turned to Alma Chapter 17, in the Book of Mormon.
I began to read, and soon realized that it is about the sons of
Mosiah. This became very easy to liken unto us "Sons of Mosiah". This
chapter helped me realize what I want it to be like when we get back
together, what I hope our missions are like, etc.

Alma 17--Likened unto us (Think about it as if they are us)
My goal when we meet again: (See verses 1-4)
And Elder Petersen did (haha)..."rejoice excedingly to see his
brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren
in the Lord; yea, and they (all of us) had waxed strong in the
knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and
they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the
word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much
prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and
the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power
and authority of God. And they had been teaching the word of
God...having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the
truth; yea, by the power of their words many were brought before the
altar of God, to call on his name and confess their sins before him".

Our Missions and Before Our Missions: (Verses 5-)
"Now these are the circumstances which attended them on their
journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both
in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, and also much
labor in the spirit. Now these are their journeyings: Having taken
leave [of their families]...they departed out of [their lands]...And
thus they departed into the wilderness...to preach the word of
God....And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the
wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would
grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide
with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to
bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanties [and the
Gentiles], to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the
baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct.
And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and
said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted. And the Lord
said unto them also: Go forth among...thy brethren, and establish my
word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that
ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an
instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. And
it came to pass that the heart of the Sons of Mosiah, and also those
who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites [and
Gentiles] to declare unto them the word of God. And it came to
pass...that they separated themselves and departed one from another,
trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their
harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had
undertaken. And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to
preach the word of God to a wild and hardened and a ferocious people;
a people who delighted in murdering...and robbing and plundering...and
their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and
precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering
and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own
hands. Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship
idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the
traditions of their fathers; notwithstanding the promises of the Lord
were extended unto them on conditions of repentance. Therefore, this
was the cause for which the Sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work,
that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they
might bring them to know of the plan of redemption. Therefore they
separated themselves one from another, and went forth among them,
every man alone [with his missionary companion], according to the word
and power of God which was given unto him...and thus they took their
several journeys throughout the land"...
It goes on from here to tell of some of the journeyings of the sons
of Mosiah, after they split. For us "Sons of Mosiah", our story is not
yet complete. I cannot wait to hear what each of you do, and have
done, individiually with the Lord and His work. As you can see, the
sons of Mosiah were very tried, and things were sometimes very hard. I
hope it is not quite as hard for us as it was for them, but it is
through our trials that the Lord refines us, uses us as an example,
and accomplishes His work. Too often as we see people reject us, or an
investigator drop us, we feel as though we have failed in this work,
but there is a principle I want you to all remember. Joseph Smith
said, "It is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of
men". Never will the work of God be frustrated, but the work of men
is. Even if we did something terrible to go out and destroy the work
of God, as Alma did, we would not succeed in destroying His work, but
we would be accountable for it, thus destroying ourselves and our own
work. God will always make a way for His work to go forth. Our
responsibility is to be obedient to His word (scriptures, the
commandments, and the mission rules), and learn to become consecrated
beings; giving our time, talent, energy, means, and will to the Lord.
That is the only surrender that is a victory (see John Tanner:
Treasure in Heaven movie).
Love you all! Keep record of your journeys that we might share our
journeys one with another. Love you all! Keep the faith!

Love,
Elder Christopher Petersen