Monday, March 20, 2017

Sacrifice

Hello again!

Today we had a half day mission, which is where the members help us out.  We went and talked to some people who hadn't been able to get to church and told them how much we missed them.  It was amazing to see how many people came and how much the people loved to work with us.  Some of them even had to sacrifice time and money to be there and drive us places, but they were happy to do so.  I love it here so much!

I have been reading in the bible in addition to my other studies because I haven't ever read it all the way through. As I was reading Leviticus I noticed all the sacrifice they do and how specific they have to be. They have to kill the animal the right way or prepare the food the right way and burn certain parts and do things with other parts and put blood certain places.  I wondered how that could be relevant to us, seeing as we don't sacrifice animals anymore.  And this is what I came up with.  We still have sacrifices in our time, though they aren't animals.  We live in a world where everything is very attainable and easy. God asks for different things from us. He asks for us to give up our sins, to sacrifice our desires and wants to him in order to bind ourselves to him in covenant.  And the covenants we make are every bit as intricate as sacrifices of old. I also thought about how God doesn't need their animals and how hard it must have been for them to give entire bulls to God, though he doesn't need them. But the sacrifices aren't for God.  They are for us. As we give away our sins and covenant with God, we get closer to him.

I hope you all have another great week and I feel your love and support.

Elder Taylor-Jenson

Life is good.






Finance

Hey!

So the past couple months have been crazy and I've been busy.  I got into a new area and my new job is in Finance.  So i am now the finance elder in my mission and its a little stressful haha. The past couple weeks I have been in training taking care of rent and support for the missionaries.  We don't really work as much though so I miss that. 

But this week i read in numbers 11:11-15 and it was really inspiring even though its kinda sad.  So this is where we see Moses kinda break down.  He is a super faithful man and he has done everything the Lord asked until this point.  And here he breaks and we see how hard this all is for him.  He feels like he would rather be dead and he hates how the people complain, he feels like he is their mother.  And after that we see the Lord provides a way for him.  He gives him instructions to help Moses out.  And I think that's how life is for me sometimes, sometimes its hard and I've learned to just do it or put up with it.  But maybe if I took my problems to God more often, He would help me more quickly. 

I miss you all and hope you are doing well!
Elder Taylor-Jenson

Life is Good