God First

Matt's random Wednesday night activities are much more exciting than mine!  :)

Nothing much has happened this week.  No fun stories.  No nothin.  I did have a cool insight during my studies but I don't want to bore you with it.

Oh just kidding, something did happen this week that I can talk about.  So there is this church in town called Canyon Ridge.  It's kind of a non-denominational church but it is HUUUUGE!  Probably as big as the great and spacious building back home.  It's a church where you can come in jeans and a t-shirt and you would blend right in.  In fact, if you dressed up, people would look at you weird.  Well, we didn't have anything to do Wednesday night so we decided to go.  Oh, and by the way, they hate mormons... So we went back to our apt. and got into some dressier casual clothes and left.  Undercover Elders!!!  (cool theme music)  We got there and had a little bit of time before the Wednesday service so we went into the bookstore to look at the selection.  I found a book by the guy who made Veggie Tales and some other cool things.  There was another book called Modern-Day Cults.  We had a 100 page section devoted to us!!!  Sweet.  We had a little laugh over that.  Not too loud though cuz we don't want to be suspicious.  Oh.  Another thing I forgot is that everybody that goes there has these little window stickers on their cars that has a circle and inside the circle are the letters GF: meaning God First.  So we saw some t-shirts with that on them at the bookstore... So we bought them!  Yes!  Now I have a GF t-shirt and it is one of the best buys I have made!  HAHA.

So we left the bookstore, happy with our purchases, and made our way to the assembly hall... which had like 600 seats, amphitheater style.  only about a quarter of them were full because it was Wednesday.  I want to go on Sunday night some time.  That would be fun.  At the beginning of the service, they had a hot girl singing some born-again music; the kind that you hear on the Christian radio station.  So they have that anywhere else?  Maybe in the south... Anyway.  We sang some songs and then she led us in prayer (with the piano still going)  Then she sang some more as they set out the sacrament trays.  We didn't go up and get any, but that's ok because some other GIRL was coming around passing a tray to everybody that didn't get up.  We still didn't take any.  It was kind of weird to think that we had more authority than any person in that room.  More than all of them combined even.  I played with my tag in my pants pocket and smiled.  After the sacrament, the preacher came out and started talking about Truth and Love and Obedience.  We need a foundation of Truth and on top of that foundation we need love for everybody.  Obedience is an afterthought though because obedience isn't the point.  The grace of Christ is the point.  Obedience is an expression of love for God.  Well that part is true, but obedience doesn't do anything for you if you have that love founded on truth.  He had some good thoughts but it wasn't quite right.  He almost had it, but not quite.  He had the truth sitting right in front of him.  haha.  Good sermon though, for the most part.  I even felt the Spirit at parts throughout the service.  We left after he was finished and got some ice cream and went home.  It was a fun night.  We are going to show off our GF t-shirts today at P-day.  Haha.

Sunday, it was nice to be able to go to church and take the sacrament that was passed by a 12 year-old boy who had more authority than all of those people in that other church combined.  It was nice to be able to feel the spirit in its fulness.  It was nice to gain new insights as I opened my scriptures with the power of the Holy Ghost enlightening my mind.  I'm so glad that our Church has a FULNESS of truth, not just part of it like Canyon Ridge, or any other church for that matter.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind.  I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that he had the authority from God to restore the truth to the Earth.  I know it because of the power of the Holy Ghost.  I love being on a mission and being able to tell that to people, that I know that Heavenly Father loves them and cares about them personally.  Such a good feeling to be one of his servants in Las Vegas.  I love you all.
-Elder Blakemore