akandrus

Well in order to be exalted we had to obtain a physical body. So in my mind there is something very special about a physical body. In a talk by President Kimball he stated something that intrigued me. "When we were spiritual beings, fully organized and able to think and study and understand with him, our Heavenly Father said to us, in effect: “Now, my beloved children, in your spirit state you have progressed about as far as you can. To continue your development, you need physical bodies. I intend to provide a plan whereby you may continue your growth. As you know, one can grow only by overcoming." Maybe the reason we must have exalted bodies is to obtain the next step. As spirits we obtained as much knowledge from our Father until we came to earth where we obtained our bodies and were tested and tried. Maybe an exalted body will allow us to continue on our path to Godhood. You know, provide us the next step.

Kamperfoelie, My wife and I were just reading your post and I couldn't help but think about an experience that I had when I was a young missionary in Venezuela. (Not quite the amazon with lost tribes but sometimes I thought that :) I remember a specific couple that was very poor. Their house was actually made of branches and grass and they lived as you expressed hand in mouth. I remember that in Venezuela it was very customary to have people invite the missionaries to eat with them, kind of an investment for blessings. A meal for this family generally was an egg and some rice as they couldn't afford anything else. I realized that when they would invite us to eat generally they just sat and watched us eat instead of eating with us. It took me a little while until I finally caught on that when we ate with them they didn't eat. They would give us their food because they didn't have enough to buy food for four. However, I also saw them faithfully paying their tithing. I knew them for about five months and watched as they consistently paid their tithing they were blessed. The husband found a better job and slowly things got better for them. I love the scripture Malachi left at the end of the Old Testament Malachi 3:8-11.