sorry about last week i ran around town all day. and i didnt have a whole lot of time to talk to my family. and i didnt have any time to talk to you guys so i am sorry about that.
so this last week and another week have been crazy, but i am doing well. dont have too many parasites... i hope, and general conference was fun.
someone had a rumor that they wee going to cut mission times. and all of saturday and sunday the other missionaries were freaking out waiting for the profet to tell them what was gonna go down. but nope... nothing... so that was kinda fun.
the talk that i think hit me the most was the talk by jeffery r holland. where he talks about the sacrament. i think too often we over look the simple and look for the more complicated bigger sacrifices we can make. waking up early to find time to read in the scriptures, or go do baptisms for the dead. but if we overlook the small and simple things it doesnt matter what we sacrifice.
last conference an elder talked about how obediance is better than sacrifice, and i was thinking that yes that is true... but also obediance usually requires a sacrifice. and i think obediance is better than sacrifice in that we need to give the sacrifice that is asked for. the scriptural qwuote for this is in the bible where a king brought a bunch of cows and rams from a conquered city to sacrifice. but the lord had commanded to leave nothing living and bring nothing home.
and that is why it says obediance is better than sacrifice. because the sacrifice was to bring home no spoils. and this king brought home spoils to sacrifice to the lord. a noble deed. but not an obediant one
it is interesting no vea. and do you really think the creator of the universe needed the sacrifices. no the sacrifices are like elder holland said for our benefit. to remind us of the lord. to keep us centered on the savior.
and now what sacrifices do we bring. a broken heart and a contrite spirit. i think it is interestiong it says broken heart. the first thing i think of with the words broken heart is of sadness and lonliness. of putting your trust in someone and them letting you down. i dont actually know what the word contrite means... just kidding i just looked it up. afflicted by guilt is what it means. remorseful. penitent.
so if that is what we bring to the sacrament altar, what will we take away?
the bread is a representation of his body, bruised and broken. the water a symbol of his blood. the sacrament is a physical representation of the atonement. how many times are we the atonement will heal all pains. cure all guilts.
and that is what the sacrament is. a time to focus on what we need to fix a time to repent and leave behind everything the savior promised to take.
i encourage you all to take elder hollands advice and treat the sacrament with more respect and reverance.
only good things will come of it.
i love you all
elder noah matthew arkoudas
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