Mission Update: Jan 22, 2006
Hey There!
Yes, I’m alive and well. I haven’t been dragged off my cows nor anything of the sort (did I ever mention that I was chased by a couple of cows once?).
Things are going well here in Dodge. Transfers are coming up soon (um…next week) on the 2nd. I’m not sure what is going to happen to me. I’ve served six months in Dodge. If you’ll remember, six months is the longest time I’ve served anywhere. I really would like to stay one more transfer and try to tie some loose ends before I leave. I don’t feel ready to go, but I fear time may have run out.
We were tracting the other day and we me a gentleman who, after proper introductions, said, “Well, I’ve leaving right now and, frankly, I question the Christianity of the Latter-day Saints“. Without even a second thought (which is usually a bad thing) I responded, “Well, I’d keep questioning”. With that we said our good-byes. I remember there being an occasion when my group of friends on Okinawa were talking about the church and the question was posed to me, by Heather-Ann who is a member, of whether or not the LDS Church was a Christian church. Having read a good portion of The Book of Mormon and seeing how the church had affected my friends, I made the thoughtful decision that is was a Christian church. This was before I was a member, but since that time I remain totally sure that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian Church. The late Apostle and theologian Bruce R. McConkie wrote “Christianity if a synonym for Mormonism“. The scriptural answer to this question is found in Mormon 9: 6-9. It reads:
“O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day. And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them. For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?”
Can anyone who denies these things be truly called “Christian” themselves? I do not deny them. They are real. Very real.
I hope you have a wonderful week. I pray that God’s blessings are upon you and that you will see His will for your life. Remember that humility is the ability to listen to and follow God. Pride is the stumbling block to knowing anything about God or gaining His blessings.
God Bless,
- Elder Joel A. McDonald Jr.
Colorado Colorado Springs Mission
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