Manda

Week 2: Recently I've been researching other churches and what they believe, out of curiousity. I wanted to see what made us so much different from every other Christian church. The most significant thing that I've found was the plan of salvation, and obviously the Book of Mormon. There was one church that had their core beliefs written out, and reading them I was mostly nodding and agreeing. The believed in the Bible as the word of God, they believed in baptism by immersion, they even had communion every week. When I got towards the end, on of their core beliefs was "The one who physically dies in his sins without Christ is hopelessly and eternally lost in the lake of fire and therefore has no further opportunity of hearing the Gospel or for repentance." It kind of came out of nowhere and made me sad for those who believe it, but also helped me appreciate the plan of salvation, and the fact the I grew up knowing it. Knowing about the plan of salvation has helped bring meaning to my life because I know why I'm here, and what happens after death. I also love that the plan of salvation is about happiness and bringing everyone closer to God, rather than setting up a barrier for who gets to be happy and who doesn't.

Week 5: The dual nature of Christ allows him to both be able to relate to us and our lives, and be able to save us eternally. Without coming to earth and dying we would not be saved, and if he did not return again then we wouldn't either. It's important to fully aknowledge both sides of Christ because they are both equally important. It's comforting to me that he not only suffered through all our sins and afflictions through the atonement, but also went through his own during his mortal life. It makes me feel more connected to him. 

Here is art of Mary and baby Jesus, by me. It's inspired by a moment in the Christ Child video (linkLinks to an external site. ) where Mary starts singing a lullaby to the newborn Jesus. It's such a soft and tender moment that really touched my heart. I think it's a good reminder of Christ's dual nature. He is divine, but he was also a mortal baby that cried and was soothed by his mother.

Week 8: I’ve decided to share an experience I had at my last FSY conference, as it greatly impacted my attitude towards repentance.

One of the classes was about the atonement, and it made me feel appreciation and love for the Savior like I never had before. He talked about the physical pain of the atonement and the crucifixion. He talked about how excruciating, both physically and mentally it was. I won’t go into detail but there were several diagrams of how exactly crucifixion works, and how it impacts the body. He also talked about the medical facts of the Atonement and how much pain and stress that would cause. At the end, he talked about how the Savior would have done it all even if only one person was saved. He would have gone through all that, just save me or you individually. One quote I wrote down was "It is impossible for Christ to forget you because you are engraved on the palms of his hands."

In case anyone is interested, he showed this video to us. It’s about Barrabas (the person who was freed instead of Christ) and how he can represent us in this story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i12UZp_N1hgLinks to an external site. 

Week 10: One time someone reached out to me with a shephard's heart was my last FSY. We had gone over the Family Proclmation that morning, which was a difficult topic for my friends and I because we were all queer, and felt like we didn't fit into the plan. We were at lunch talking about it, with a lot of feelings. A counselor sat down at our table and starting talking to us. He answered the questions we had the best he could, but eventually someone asked him, "where do we fit into this plan?" and I will never forget his response. He said "I don't know. But I know that God loves you, and you belong in this church. We need people like you in this church." Those words have repeated in my head, over and over again whenever I start feeling like I don't belong in His kingdom.

(Fun little story about this one. I really didn't want to share this story because I didn't really want to come out to my whole institute class. I typed this story out and deleted it so many times but any time I started trying to type out a different response my mind was just blank. I had nothing. Eventually I gave in and submitted what I typed above. A week or two later someone sent me a private message saying that they didn't want to respond publicly but wanted to tell me that my post was exactly what they needed to hear at that point. I'm so glad I decided to share and if somehow the person who reached out is on tumblr I hope you're doing ok.)

Week 11: In the past I struggled to know how the Lord speaks to me, and how I specifically hear his voice. I'd heard other people talk about how they hear the Lord's voice through prayer or reading scriptures, but I had never really felt it that strongly. For a long time I thought I just wasn't hearing his voice, or maybe I wasn't trying hard enough to listen. In the past year, I've realized that I do hear His voice, I just didn't recognize it as His. My prayers are often answered through other people. I've had many times when I've prayed about something, and recieved an answer through conversations with others. The Lord puts me in the right place at the right time to hear what I need to. Whether it's a conversation with someone, or a perfectly timed social media post, it's often through things other than myself that I hear Him.

Week 13: One challenge I face as I try to follow the Savior is I often find it hard to pray and ask for help. I tend to be very stubborn and I've always struggled with admitting when I need help. Something I've been working on is praying first, before things get bad. I tend to view prayer as a last resort, and that's something I'm trying to change. My love for the Savior is what encourages me to change and become more faithful in my discipleship. His love for me means that he is always there for me, whether things are going well for me or I'm struggling a lot. 

Part 1: I started taking this class because I was starting to have a lot of questions and doubts about the church. I wasn't planning on leaving or aything, but I had some things on my mind that I needed to know. Since taking this class I've been able to answer those questions and affirm my belief in Christ. Having a testimony of Jesus Christ and the church is a journey, not a destination. Just having more overall knowledge of Jesus Christ has given me more resources on this journey and helped me stay on this path. I know that my testimony will not always be strong, and it's important to "stock up" when I can, because there will be times that I am struggling and am clinging to what I already have.

Fun little anacdote about this class, I initially signed up for it because the time was convinient, then when I saw that the topic was the eternal family my reaction was "ew no" and I unenrolled. That stayed on my mind for a few days and I realized that my reaction might be a sign that I should actually take it. I did, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The lessons on gender and gay people were actually pretty good, though this is partly because my teacher was amazing.

Week 2: Recently I've been researching other churches and what they believe, out of curiousity. I wanted to see what made us so much different from every other Christian church. The most significant thing that I've found was the plan of salvation, and obviously the Book of Mormon. There was one church that had their core beliefs written out, and reading them I was mostly nodding and agreeing. The believed in the Bible as the word of God, they believed in baptism by immersion, they even had communion every week. When I got towards the end, on of their core beliefs was "The one who physically dies in his sins without Christ is hopelessly and eternally lost in the lake of fire and therefore has no further opportunity of hearing the Gospel or for repentance." It kind of came out of nowhere and made me sad for those who believe it, but also helped me appreciate the plan of salvation, and the fact the I grew up knowing it. Knowing about the plan of salvation has helped bring meaning to my life because I know why I'm here, and what happens after death. I also love that the plan of salvation is about happiness and bringing everyone closer to God, rather than setting up a barrier for who gets to be happy and who doesn't.

Week 5: The dual nature of Christ allows him to both be able to relate to us and our lives, and be able to save us eternally. Without coming to earth and dying we would not be saved, and if he did not return again then we wouldn't either. It's important to fully aknowledge both sides of Christ because they are both equally important. It's comforting to me that he not only suffered through all our sins and afflictions through the atonement, but also went through his own during his mortal life. It makes me feel more connected to him. 

Here is art of Mary and baby Jesus, by me. It's inspired by a moment in the Christ Child video (linkLinks to an external site. ) where Mary starts singing a lullaby to the newborn Jesus. It's such a soft and tender moment that really touched my heart. I think it's a good reminder of Christ's dual nature. He is divine, but he was also a mortal baby that cried and was soothed by his mother.

Week 8: I’ve decided to share an experience I had at my last FSY conference, as it greatly impacted my attitude towards repentance.

One of the classes was about the atonement, and it made me feel appreciation and love for the Savior like I never had before. He talked about the physical pain of the atonement and the crucifixion. He talked about how excruciating, both physically and mentally it was. I won’t go into detail but there were several diagrams of how exactly crucifixion works, and how it impacts the body. He also talked about the medical facts of the Atonement and how much pain and stress that would cause. At the end, he talked about how the Savior would have done it all even if only one person was saved. He would have gone through all that, just save me or you individually. One quote I wrote down was "It is impossible for Christ to forget you because you are engraved on the palms of his hands."

In case anyone is interested, he showed this video to us. It’s about Barrabas (the person who was freed instead of Christ) and how he can represent us in this story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i12UZp_N1hgLinks to an external site. 

Week 10: One time someone reached out to me with a shephard's heart was my last FSY. We had gone over the Family Proclmation that morning, which was a difficult topic for my friends and I because we were all queer, and felt like we didn't fit into the plan. We were at lunch talking about it, with a lot of feelings. A counselor sat down at our table and starting talking to us. He answered the questions we had the best he could, but eventually someone asked him, "where do we fit into this plan?" and I will never forget his response. He said "I don't know. But I know that God loves you, and you belong in this church. We need people like you in this church." Those words have repeated in my head, over and over again whenever I start feeling like I don't belong in His kingdom.

(Fun little story about this one. I really didn't want to share this story because I didn't really want to come out to my whole institute class. I typed this story out and deleted it so many times but any time I started trying to type out a different response my mind was just blank. I had nothing. Eventually I gave in and submitted what I typed above. A week or two later someone sent me a private message saying that they didn't want to respond publicly but wanted to tell me that my post was exactly what they needed to hear at that point. I'm so glad I decided to share and if somehow the person who reached out is on tumblr I hope you're doing ok.)

Week 11: In the past I struggled to know how the Lord speaks to me, and how I specifically hear his voice. I'd heard other people talk about how they hear the Lord's voice through prayer or reading scriptures, but I had never really felt it that strongly. For a long time I thought I just wasn't hearing his voice, or maybe I wasn't trying hard enough to listen. In the past year, I've realized that I do hear His voice, I just didn't recognize it as His. My prayers are often answered through other people. I've had many times when I've prayed about something, and recieved an answer through conversations with others. The Lord puts me in the right place at the right time to hear what I need to. Whether it's a conversation with someone, or a perfectly timed social media post, it's often through things other than myself that I hear Him.

Week 13: One challenge I face as I try to follow the Savior is I often find it hard to pray and ask for help. I tend to be very stubborn and I've always struggled with admitting when I need help. Something I've been working on is praying first, before things get bad. I tend to view prayer as a last resort, and that's something I'm trying to change. My love for the Savior is what encourages me to change and become more faithful in my discipleship. His love for me means that he is always there for me, whether things are going well for me or I'm struggling a lot. 

Part 1: I started taking this class because I was starting to have a lot of questions and doubts about the church. I wasn't planning on leaving or aything, but I had some things on my mind that I needed to know. Since taking this class I've been able to answer those questions and affirm my belief in Christ. Having a testimony of Jesus Christ and the church is a journey, not a destination. Just having more overall knowledge of Jesus Christ has given me more resources on this journey and helped me stay on this path. I know that my testimony will not always be strong, and it's important to "stock up" when I can, because there will be times that I am struggling and am clinging to what I already have.