Elder Seth Garner

Tue, 9 Dec 2014 11:19

HEY!

Well, here we are, another week come and gone. It was a good week last week! We had Zach Shepherd's baptism this last Saturday. It is always such an incredible thing to be able to witness a baptism, which I was privileged to see many, especially serving at the MCRD. Zach was so grateful for the experience. He asked us that the baptismal service be small, with not too many people and fairly simple. It definitely was! There were about seven people there to see Zach get baptized. The Spirit was felt very powerfully. Every time I see a baptism, I tend to envy the person for the experience they have just had and what it means to them. Not in a bad way, I always just think about how pure they are and how they now have this fresh new start... And then I think, well hey! I get to feel that ALL THE TIME, because of the Atonement. Every time the Atonement is used fully, it brings a feeling of relief, joy, and a fresh new start. How lucky are we that we get to experience that on a daily basis? Though we have covenanted with God, some of us long ago, that we will strive our best to keep His commandments, the same thing applies to us today with sincere repentance and partaking of the sacrament at church. Zach received the Gift of The Holy Ghost the following Sunday. He is going to do so great! He has such great desires, and wants to learn so much more about the gospel. He will be leaving back to Missouri where his five kids are, and I am excited for him to share the gospel with them!

I have been trying to learn much more about the Atonement lately... It is difficult, and well, downright impossible to learn everything there is to know about Christ's sacrifice for us. It is unfathomable, incomprehensible, and unimaginable to think of what the Savior went through. But we can know what he went through us individually. Many of us think of the Atonement as something to be used when we make a mistake. But I think we often overlook the Enabling power of the Atonement. The Atonement not only helps us overcome sin and weakness, but it helps us become the best people we could possibly be. I am not a bad person, and I am certainly not a great person either, but I can use the Atonement in my life everyday to become an even better person. And it is almost guaranteed to have a heavy burden at any point in your life. That is necessary for us to grow and become better people. But the only way to do that well, is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement makes bad men good, and good men better.

Well, I know that the Lord has some awesome miracles in store for us this next week! It is going to be a blast! Have a great week!

Love,

        Elder Garner