Full
Purpose of Heart
 |
| "The fireflies are back out!" Unfortunately the camera doesn't pick them up. |
But
if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your
trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will,
according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
We
had an incredible week!
My
exchange was with Sister Bishop this week. She goes home soon to BYU-I :). I'm
so grateful to be sending off so many friends to there.
To
begin, we have been working with members a lot lately to help them establish
their own family mission plan. We started with the Edgertons. They are an
incredible family. Brother Edgerton was raised very devout Nazarine, and his
family excelled in the world of anti-Mormonism. When he got his hands on a copy
of the Book of Mormon, he decided to prove it wrong. This way, when he sent
anti letters to his friends in Utah, he would have more credibility. As you can
guess, he couldn't prove it wrong, and was shunned from his family causing many
riffs as he acted on what he now knew to be true and was baptized. A year or so
later he was called to serve a mission in the very area of South Africa where
his family had just served to build up their church. The Edgertons are
wonderful examples to me and those of the Old Hickory Ward. After sharing our
message with them, they opened up their scriptures and shared with us what they
had read from the Book of Mormon that morning, to back up what I had just
taught from the Bible. I am so grateful to work with them in helping their
friends and family come to Christ.
I
imagine it's hard for their kids, having grandparents that always email them
negative things about their faith. We had a Zone Conference this week in which
Elder Sheffield gave an awesome training on holding to the truths that we do
know. He encouraged us to write down the simple truths we know for ourselves.
I'd like to share with you the few things I have come to a knowledge of
throughout the course of my life.
1. I
know I have a Heavenly Father who loves me perfectly.
2. I
know that my purpose in life is to become like Christ through his atonement.
3. I
know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
My
testimony isn't always perfect, but I know that faith is not to have a perfect
knowledge. This religion has never done anything or promoted anything that
would not better the lives of those who live it. It's provided me
opportunities to become a better person. Joseph Smith, and our prophet today, and
other leaders of the church did not and will not receive worldly wealth or popularity
from their positions. They help better those around them- and seek
nothing in return. If that's not of God or from God- I don't know what
is.
A
verse I've come to love and hold close to me is Romans 15:13:
"Now
the God of hope filsl you with all joy and peace in believing, that he may
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost"
I'll
be honest, I've never had some fantastic moment where the heavens opened and
angels sang to me that Joseph Smith was a prophet and this religion is true; but
as I live the gospel found in this church with full purpose of heart, my
life is filled with a steady stream of joy and peace in believing. My hope for
its truth only increases, and I know that comes from the power of the Holy
Ghost, just as Paul explains.
Another
member family we are helping develop a family mission plan with is the Stuarts. The
Stuarts decided they want to weary the Lord with their prayers for a
missionary experience. We committed them last night to begin, and THIS VERY
MORNING Sister Stuart called us, ecstatic, because she found someone in a
parking lot who wants to meet with missionaries! "Prayers really do
work!" She rejoiced, thanking us for encouraging them to do that.
It
felt so good to see how happy it made the Stuarts to see the fruits of their
labors. All it took was for them to turn to the Lord with full purpose in their
hearts and they were given what they desired.
Elder
Dallin H Oaks explains:
“…
It is not enough to serve God with all of our might and strength.
He who looks into our hearts and knows our minds demands more than this. In
order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him
with all our heart and mind.“Service with all of our heart and
mind is a high challenge for all of us. Such service must be free of selfish
ambition. It must be motivated only by the pure love of Christ”
(
Oct. Conference 1984 )
When
I read this, paired with Moroni 7:5-9, I was struck that perhaps I haven't been giving the Lord as much as I could
have. Making the full purpose of our hearts the Lord's work requires "full
diligence of mind".
Elder Ashton's training in zone
conference helped me to understand what I need to do to receive this full
purpose of heart. He taught about the Atonement and repentance. I was reminded
that repentance is a change in the Saviors direction. Repentance is not the
backup plan, it is the plan. Repentance is how I am going to become the
missionary and person the Lord knows I can be. It means that if I want the blessings
of coming to him with a full purpose of heart, I need a change in nature not
just behavior.
My
desire to change and come to Christ with full purpose of heart came as I read
Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-13 with my companion. I asked her why repentance
made us and Christ so happy, and she taught me about the perfect Empathy of the
Savior. Together we discovered that because he has felt all, he can perfectly
empathize with us. You know when you've gone through something and someone else
is going through it and you totally feel that pain all over again with them?
Well, that's how Christ is but in a much nobler sense. Because of his perfect
empathy he chooses to relive that suffering he already went through, just so he
can do it with us.
Thinking
of it this way brought me to godly sorrow. I don't want the Savior to have to
feel the pain of my mistakes again EVER. I love him. And I love that even when
I do mess up, he never ever puts me down or makes me feel worse. He is there to
lift me up and bring me joy as I have a change of mind and heart.
As I
have focused very carefully this week and making my purpose His purpose in both
mind and heart, I have seen so many miracles!
For
example, we have gotten in with less actives that haven't talked to
missionaries or come to church in years!
We
went to an investigators house to see if she was even interested in learning
more, and her sister answered and let us in. She told us we had a glow to us...
When we told her what church we were from she said "oh! You're Mormons!
That explains it!" And then her sister laughed and said "you know,
just the other day you were telling me how all Mormons just have this glow...
I've totally seen it too!" They were freaking out about how we all just
shine and it's so angelic and they love it. It was awesome!
Then
this morning we went to the Parkers home where we taught their friend, Sunny,
the restoration of the gospel and it was amazing. She's Korean so Sister Parker
invited her Korean friend from Green Hills Ward to fellowship her.
I'm
so grateful for members who are an example of full purpose of heart, I'm
grateful for repentance which allows me to turn to the Savior with full purpose
of heart, and I'm grateful to be a missionary for my Heavenly Father :)
Love
you all!
Sister
Hochstrasser
Write to me!
Sister Jennifer Hochstrasser
Tennessee Nashville Mission
105 West Park Drive Ste 190
Brentwood, TN 37027
or dearelder.com
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