Another General Conference come and go...

Received October 5th

Hi all.

General Conference was very sobering. 5 MORE TEMPLES! What more, somehow for the past 3 weeks, I had this enormous hunch that they would announce more temples at this general conference. Wow. What a revelation.

During the course of General Conference, I was stricken with the impression that the Lord needs more Full-time Missionaries and that He is concerned about Satan's growing influence in the world. I noticed that several of the speakers were talking all about the gift of agency, or the gift to choose and act for ourselves, and that Satan is fighting hard to take that gift from us and get us to be miserable like he is. In many parts of Los Angeles, this message often echoes true. A lot of people here live in poverty and live in dangerous neighborhoods because of a series of choices they made and now they have limited choices (for example, not having a car, not affording a home, or probably in their lives will never be able to get good jobs). In principle, they're trapped (in fact, we found out that one of our investigators is in jail now), and it's kind of sad. I wish I could help them make better choices and thus lead to better freedom, then it hit me that, as full-time missionaries, we are exactly in a position to help them make better choices. then it HIT me that the lord needs MORE full-time missionaries to help MORE people make better choices and to help in the battle against Satan's evil incluence.

Last week, I encouraged all the youth in my ward to consider a full-time mission. I will not repeat what I said last week (you can just scroll down on my blog and look it up if you want) but I'm going to say more, and I'm going to say it to every able-bodied young man and woman who will read this, not just those in my ward. Satan's influence is real. I see it all the time here in Los Angeles, not just in Las Vegas, and I'm pretty sure that it is the same the world over. You can help in the fight against Satan. In fact, I WANT you to help. The Lord WANTS you to. Much of the time we are too causal about this. We are in the final dispensation. The "end-game" in the history of mankind. Satan is fighting harder than ever and all the stakes are on the table. President Ezra Taft Benson said:
"For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming of the Lord. Every previous gospel dispensation has drifted into apostasy, but ours will not. True, there will be some individuals who will fall away; but the kingdom of God will remain intact to welcome the return of its head--even Jesus Christ. While our generation will be comparable in wickedness to the days of Noah, when the Lord cleansed the earth by flood, there is a major difference this time. It is that God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly. And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God.
All through the ages the prophets have looked down through the corridors of time to our day. Billions of the deceased and those yet to be born have their eyes on us. Make no mistake about it--you are a marked generation. There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time as there is of us. Never before on the face of this earth have the forces of evil and the forces of good been as well organized. Now is the great day of the devil's power, with the greatest mass murderers of all time living among us. But now is also the great day of the Lord's power, with the greatest number ever of priesthood holders on the earth. And the showdown is fast approaching.
Each day the forces of evil and the forces of good pick up new recruits. Each day we personally make many decisions that show where our support will go. The final outcome is certain--the forces of righteousness will finally win. What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future, will stand in this fight--and how tall we will stand. Will we be true to our last-days, foreordained mission?"
I know that if you serve a full time mission, the Lord will bless you in more things than you can imagine. As a full-time missionary, you can make yourself extraordinary. As each of us help out, the devil's power becomes weaker. I know that as all of us pur forth all our best efforts to accomplish the Lord's purposes, we can overcome Satan forever. I love you all and I want the best for all of you, and I know missionary service will definitely help you do that.


One more thing, I came up with a cool quote: "Every member is a missionary. We are the front lines"

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-E.T. {0 ^ 0} __o
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