Fasting… I must obey

Enjoying a foot massage:)

This past week has been kind of a crazy one.  So we were at the end of the month and we get a certain amount of miles for the month.  Anyway we were running short... Real short!!  And they kept on adding trips we had to go on!!  So in the end we ended up having to cut out a trip to browning which sucked.  I always like going there.  Anyway on the last day of the month I was on exchanges (where I switch companions for 24 hours) and I was in Conrad.  And we were doing our thing but the problem was that I missed being in Cut Bank!!  I mean I love it here!!  Plus like everyone "wasn't home" so we walked around for a few hours knocking on people's doors and I don't think one person opened their door... Lame... Oh well though!!  It's all good!!

Then throughout this week it's gone from being unbearably hot to the point where I was sweating through my clothes to the point of frigid cold.  And out here there isn't a mountain range to break the wind.  So that wind comes ripping through here plus its dang cold now...  Haha this is going to be a fun winter!! :D

Yesterday was fast Sunday and being a missionary on fast Sunday is so different then before I came out.  Before I came out I was just looking at it as thought was going two meals without food.  Like I was pretty convinced that the church had gotten the word "fasting" wrong and they were supposed to add an "e" to make it "feasting" that would be great J but as a missionary it's so different.  I have purpose to fast; purpose that I didn't even realize at the time.  It was a lot easier to fast.  I mean back home, I would go to church and fast and I would maybe make it till three.  But out here I woke up earlier then I would back home and I made it to 6:30 at night no sweat.  It's amazing what the missionary mindset will do.  But this was my first fast and testimony meeting in a branch.  It's so different then a ward’s fast and testimony meeting!!  Like honestly for some reason I was just so impacted and whatnot (much more than I have been at home). I'm pretty sure my companion thought I was just a big baby but I don't care :) Everyone who goes to a branch wants to be there and that's something different then the wards back home because there's the social aspect of church in wards that doesn't necessarily exist in a branch.  It's interesting and you can't really know what I mean unless you attend one.  All the members out here are so great and I honestly love it so much.

This was the most vibrant rainbow I've ever seen!!
(The picture doesn't do it justice)

Now for my little spiritual thought… so I was reading the Book of Mormon, and I was finishing up 2nd Nephi and I knew that Nephi wasn't going to live forever, so I was paying extra close attention (he ends up dying in the first chapter of Jacob); anyway, I wanted to know what the last thing that this great prophet wrote.  Most people might be aware of Nephi’s most famous scripture in first Nephi 3:7 – “I will go and do...” - that's how he basically starts his writings and it's also how he ends them. The last phrase that Nephi will ever write is, "the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen."  These are the last words of the prophet Nephi.  How awesome is his mentality about the lord and what he expects of us?!? Like he said that the lord commanded him so he MUST do it. There wasn't any doubt in his mind about doing what the lord commands. Now how did I learn something from this??? Well I enjoy seeing things that have been repeated in the Book of Mormon.  It just tells me that the Lord knows that we need to hear or read a second time so that we can come to a better knowledge and understanding of a certain principle. I started reflecting on different times in my life where the Lord had given me a prompting or something to that nature and I hadn't obeyed.  So this scripture hit me and made me realize that everything the Lord commands MUST be obeyed. This could also be applied to the commandments. The Lord commanded these things so we MUST obey.  Not "oh I'll do that later" or "when I feel like it"; what the Lord commands MUST be obeyed.

I love this gospel and the many principles that can be found in the Book of Mormon.  I love what it teaches.  I love the redemptive powers of the atonement, and that we all have the opportunity to live it.  I love the prophet Joseph smith and that he was able to translate the book with the power of God. I love using the priesthood to help people.

I love you guys!!

-Elder Zeller