Vardos

One of my very favorites is Job 16:2 - To set the story a little, Job has had everything imaginable happen to him. He's lost everything, his wealth, his family, all of his possessions, plus he's been covered head to toe in boils. Three friends come to comfort him but everything they say accuses him. What they essentially are saying to him is, 'you've been cursed, if you've been cursed then you must have done something wrong. God wouldn't allow you to be cursed unless you've sinned'. Job knows that he's been a righteous man and tries to convince them. Over and over he tells them, I've not sinned, I have no idea why these terrible things have happened to me. But they don't buy it, they are absolutely convinced if he's been cursed it's because of sin. Job eventually gets sick of their attitude and lack of faith in him and says in 16:2 "miserable comforters are ye all" Every time i read this i can't help but laugh, it's so full of frustration and resignation like he's saying 'with friends like these, who needs enemies!". The first time I read this Job became one of my favorite characters in the bible. It's such a human response, sort of "hey you know what? As friends, you guys really suck!"

The point has been made that the Atonement includes both the actions in the Garden of Gethsemane and The Crucifixion. I would argue that there are two more parts of it, the Resurrection and the one most people forget or don't fully understand the symbolism of it, The Last Supper. One must remember that when Christ came to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the beginning of the last week of his life, the city was crowded with people who had gathered to commemorate the weeklong Passover celebrations. The Passover hearkens back to the days of the enslavement of the children of Israel by Pharoah. The details of the last plague were that all firstborn males in Egypt would die. The Hebrews painted the blood of the lamb above their door so the Angel of Death would Passover their homes. According to the chronology of the last week of the Savior's life suggested by the Gospel of John, Passover actually began at sunset the day Jesus was crucified. So, if we think about it, in this scenario the paschal lambs, which were always sacrificed before the beginning of Passover so that they would be ready in time for the traditional Passover meal, would have been sacrificed in the temple at the very same time that the Lamb of God, was dying on the cross. If we look at the events of The Last Supper, Christ was actually breaking with tradition by celebrating the Passover feast early. For this Passover feast, Christ taught us that the bread of the feast represented his body, and the wine, or for us now, water, represented his blood. This Passover Feast, what we now call The Sacrament, represented a new Passover, a symbolism of the sacrifice of our Savior on Golgotha, a symbol of his intercession in Gethsemane, and symbol of his resurrection. This sacrament was the new Passover; a Passover from the Angel of Death not just for the firstborn of the children of Israel, but for all-mankind.

I have turned down two callings in my life. The first was about two months after I got off my mission. The bishop called me into his office and asked me to teach a primary class. I turned him down because I had just gotten a job in a town about 40 miles away and I was moving. This taught me an important lesson, not all callings are inspired. Sometimes callings are simply to fill a position. The other time I turned down a calling was about 20 months ago. I had been the substitute gospel doctrine teacher, meaning when the regular GD teacher was out of town, they asked me to teach. One Sunday the bishop called me into his office and asked me to be the full time GD teacher and I reluctantly turned him down. The reason was my then 85 year old mother was in a convalescent hospital. She had several close calls when she was in the hospital, sometimes those close calls were because of inattention by the staff. Because of this, my sister and I decided that we needed to be there at the hospital as much as humanly possible. This would serve two functions, one, so we could hopefully catch any mistakes the hospital made before they became major mistakes, and two so the hospital knew we cared about our mother. This is critically important because it seems that many families only visit their loved ones once a week for 20 minutes on a Saturday and then they wonder why Dad is dead after a couple of months. I can't tell you how many times we visited the hospital and somebody who was never visited was convinced I or my sister was their son or daughter, it was heart-breaking. We were convinced that people who were never visited lived shorter, more unhappy lives, and got substandard care. So during the day when I was at work my sister visited my Mom for about 6 hours, then I would take over when I got off work and would stay with Mom 6-8 hours until visiting hours were over. On my days off, I would spend much more time than that with Mom. Because of this, I turned down the bishop's request to be GD teacher. As a substitute GD teacher, I would spend between about 10-12 hours a week preparing for my class. I was not someone who just went by the manual and that was it. I used the manual as a guideline and really put a lot of time and effort into my preparation for the class. So i told the bishop that because of Mom's situation, I didn't feel that I could give the class the attention that it needed. As I was walking out of the office, the bishop stopped me and thanked me for being honest. He said, he wished people would be more honest about callings and accept them only to then not fulfill them. I told him if things changed with Mom I would be more than willing to accept the calling and then left the office. The doctors told us Mom would never leave the hospital, but the Lord had other plans. Seven months later, Mom went home. She has now been home for over a year, living with me. It's taken a lot of adjustment on my part, particularly with my work situation, but it has been so worth it! The doctors look at her with amazement as they see this now 87 year old woman, someone who was completely bed bound in the hospital, now scoot around with her walker. I wouldn't be surprised if she's walking without the walker in 5-6 months. My sister and I are convinced that part of the reason she's home is because of the time we dedicated to being with her when she was in the hospital. Two weeks after Mom got out of the hospital, the bishop again called me into his office and asked me to be the full-time GD teacher. This time I accepted and held the calling until 3 weeks ago when our ward boundaries were changed. The moral to this story? Do what is best for you. Ask the Lord in prayer what to do. Don't be afraid to speak up and talk to the person asking you to fulfill the call if you have problems or reservations about the call. This doesn't mean to look for ways to get out of the call, but if you seriously believe that you can't fulfill the obligations of the call, say so and then tell the person you'd be willing to serve in another less demanding capacity.

IMHO, it seems the most logical progression is mission, then service, then college. Although if you went mission, college, then service i believe you could serve as an officer since you'd have a degree. I may be wrong about that but I was told that by a career soldier serving in the armed forces. However, the thing about all three of those choices is that they require that you be committed to the choice you make. If you aren't committed to attending College, you'll lose interest when it gets hard and drop out. If you aren't committed to being in the service, you'll hate it and it will seem like a jail sentence. If you aren't committed to serving a mission, you won't be happy on your mission and you won't be a benefit to those you serve. My advice is to pray for guidance. Ask your HF where you need to be and you'll get an answer.

I served a mission and i never thought less of someone who didn't serve and I've never heard anyone speak less of someone who didn't serve. The only thing that I've ever thought about someone who didn't serve is that the things you experience on a mission can't be replicated anywhere else, because of this, someone who hasn't served misses out on some extraordinary experiences. That being said, I've known people who served who didn't want to be on a mission and only did so because they thought it was what they were supposed to do and they don't make good missionaries. They are hard on mission leadership, on companions and on flatmates. Because of this, I strongly feel that those who serve should want to serve not feel obligated to do so. As others have said, don't join the church for anyone else, don't serve a mission for anyone else. Do these things because you want to, because you have a testimony and because you want to share those beliefs with others. Pray for guidance, your heavenly father loves you and will help you to do what is right. Good luck to you!

Hi, I've been lurking for a few days in your forum and thought I'd join up. I've been an active member most of my life, and served a mission in the early 80's. This seems like a nice site with good people. I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions.