Pornography...there is Hope

For a while now, I did not know what I wanted to "blog" about but very recently I saw a facebook status regarding pornography. It hit me home for me and I felt impressed to write on pornography. Pornography is a very sensitive subject for many and for me. We can all see that there is unintentional ignorance when someone simply has not been through an experience like pornography themselves. It's not a bad thing, they just don't know what the addicted person is going through.
Pornography as defined by Merriam Webster is: "material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement." This definition gives us an idea of what pornography is. Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the April 2005 General Conference spoke on pornography and he defines the effects of what it does to someone who is involved in pornography he states, "Those who seek out to use pornography forfeit the power of the power of the priesthood...patrons of pornography also lose the companionship of the Spirit. Pornography produces fantasies that destroy spirituality...pornography also inflicts mortal wounds on our most precious personal relationships....pornography impairs one's ability to enjoy a normal emotional, romantic, and spiritual relationship with a person of the opposite sex...pornography is also addictive." Pornography has an addictive power. It hooks you to come back wanting more and more. BUT there is hope! Elder Oaks boldy declares, "But the good news is that no one needs to follow the evil, downward descent to torment. Everyone caught on that terrible escalator has the key to reverse his course. He can escape. Through reptance he can be clean."
In the Book of Mormon there is a story of a man named: Alma the Younger in his own words he describes it:
"Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell.
"..The very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my sould with inexpressible horror...
"And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
"Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, Thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
"And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more."
"And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light did I behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding was my pain!" (Alma 36:13-14,17-20)
Elder Oaks continues, " My brethren who are caught in this addiction or troubled by this temptation, there is a way."
President Uchtodorf in the April 2012 Conference stated, "Lay your burden at the Savior’s feet...Allow Christ’s Atonement to change and heal your heart."
Christ has died for each of us because he loves each of us and he knew that we would stumble and fall and he knew exactly how to comfort us.
In Alma 7:11-13, it says,
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and emptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

"And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

"Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me."

For those who are victims of pornography and its harmfull effects, there is still hope.
I firmly believe that there is hope for one and all that battle any type of addiction and to say that there is not, would be a false statment! There is hope! There always has been! Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ there is hope.
For those of us who have not experienced the torment of any addiction now is the time to extend a loving hand of kindness and compassion towards those who are suffering. I know that I am no one to judge, to say that it is their fault that they entered into such addictions! I have made my mistakes and I know that the Atonement covers all sin, it covers everything.
We are all going to sin, regardless of what sin it is the Atonement will cover it. Christ loves us all and accepts us all. I wish that we would not cast judgment on those who make mistakes even grevious one's. I know that Christ would reach out to them and love them. Love is key.
President Uchtdorf continued on to say in his address,

"Brothers and sisters, there is enough heartache and sorrow in this life without our adding to it through our own stubbornness, bitterness, and resentment.

We are not perfect.

The people around us are not perfect. People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way.

Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way.

Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive."

Pornography is an addiction but that does not mean that there is no hope. There is always hope with any mistake that we make in this life. There is always hope over the horizon.

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You are never alone

A look of the stairs as I headed to the top

P-day this last week Sister Tucker and I along with Elder's Merrill and Cannell decided to go to the beach. As we walked down the long flight of stairs to the beach, I saw a bunch of rocks and realized that we were headed in that direction for our activity. We had to climb the rocks. I am not much of a climber, I don't like to do it but in order to do the activity I had to climb. First, I want to mention that I did not have the right shoes, I was climbing rocks on flat slick shoes. Climbing with shoes like that did not improve my attitude on climbing rocks, I chose to be unhappy on this task which made the task seem impossible. Every rock I climbed I felt that I was going to fall, I used all the energy necessary to hold on.  Once we had finished our activity, we had to climb over the rocks and climb back up the stairs. Its easy to come down, hard to go back up. I will honestly say, I was the last one up. I was embarrassed and mad at myself that I had not made it to the top fast enough. The next day I woke up sore. During Personal Study I was reading about Captain Moroni and how he fought for his country, family, and religion and I wondered to myself, how I was giving up due to my attitude and my shoes...simple things that I put as a stumbling block. I wasn't fighting the fight.
The Savior himself has said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

There will be many days in our lives that we will have to make a climb, we might not be prepared with the right equipment or the right attitude. We may even have to put all of our energy into not falling back to where we started. We may even feel that we are alone, that there is no one to help us make the climb to get to the finish, to fight the fight. We may even want to quit our climb.  Never quit! That is a fall that is hard to come back from! Although it seems that we are doing this alone, I am here to testify that we are not! You are never alone in your climb! The Savior is always there to help you, to lift you up and to carry you to help you reach your destination! When all seems dark and dreary look around you for the light and you will see the Savior! My family has a motto that goes, "The Hernandez's never give up." so I extend this motto to you as well, apply it to yourself, for with the Savior all that seems impossible is made possible!

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The Power of Hymns

For those of you who do not know me well enough, I love music and when I say love it, I mean it. I LOVE music! Music is power in my eyes. Power, because it can say what I cannot express, music has a way to touch our hearts, it has a way to bring the Spirit into our lives. Jay E. Jensen stated, "Hymns are “an essential part of our church meetings. [They] invite the Spirit of the Lord.” They often do this quicker than anything else we may do. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, “We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer.”
Music has power, more importantly Hymns have power. This last Sunday I had the privilege to sing in sacrament meeting "I am a Child of God." I always knew the power that this song had, but never did I fully appreciate it until I sang it. Until I fully read the lyrics. It goes as follows:
1.I am a Child of God
And He has Sent me Here
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear
2.I am a Child of God
And so my needs are great
Help me to understand His words
Before it grows to late
3.I am a Child of God
Rich blessings are in Store
If I but learn to do His will
I'll live with Him once more
4.I am a Child of God
His promises are sure
Celestial Glory shall be mine
If I can but endure
Chorus:
Lead me, guide me walk beside me
Help me find the way
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.

What power this song has! To know that we are all children of God! An all powerful being and we are his children! He loves us and wants nothing but the best for us! How great to know that His promises are sure for each of His children and that if we endure we can live with Him again! This song is in the Children Songbook today as well as the Hymn Book. This song has the power to help us remember, to realize we are God's Children and we are of worth! There will be times in our lives where we will struggle and just to recite or to sing a hymn will bring us the comfort and strength necessary to continue pressing forward.
The First Presidency has said: “Brothers and sisters, let us use the hymns to invite the Spirit of the Lord into our congregations, our homes, and our personal lives. Let us memorize and ponder them, recite and sing them, and partake of their spiritual nourishment. Know that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto our Father in Heaven, ‘and it shall be answered with a blessing upon [your] heads.”

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An improved vision

These are my actual glasses!

This week I had the chance to go on Exchanges with Sister Cluff. It was an amazing exchange! I realized that the vision I had for myself, was great but at the end of our exchange, my vision had improved. There are many times that we lose sight of our goals, our purpose, and our vision. We tend to do good, when we could do better! Don't get me wrong, doing good is great but when you can do better, why not do it? That is what hit me the hardest as we went about our day in Eureka. I could do better, so why not do it? I relate this to being able to physically see. I usually wear glasses, why? Because I can't see. Imagine if I decided to not wear my glasses for a day? I would be LOST! I couldn't see anything or anyone in front of me. And lets say, that I found some other glasses, and they weren't the right prescription but I could still kind of see, and I wore those, my vision would slightly improve. But if I wore the right prescription, my vision would drastically improve. I would see the color of the world, I could see what is in front of me, I could see what I wanted to change and what I could improve in.
We all have area's in which we need to improve in. For me it was having a better vision, a better attitude, and becoming more christlike towards others. It reminds me of what President Monson said, "Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time."
Having this improved vision in mind, I now know the goal in sight as it says in Mosiah 4:27, "...And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." All things must be done in order to change, in order to win the prize, or the goal! We can all achieve our goals in sight, if we put our whole trust in the Savior, for he will always lift us up, help us achieve our goals when we feel we cannot go any further. He will help change us!

As I said before, we all have the chance to improve our vision, sometimes our windows need to be cleaned in order to see a clearer picture, to see what we need to do to become better!
Charity Never Faileth-President Monson

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Peace

I have been contemplating peace this whole week and how we are all yearing for peace in our lives and that peace brings us comfort. There have been times in my life where I have searched for peace and have not found it but I look back at those moments in life and I asked myself, was I looking at the right source for peace? President David O. McKay said, “The peace of Christ does not come by seeking the superficial things of life, neither does it come except as it springs from the individual’s heart.” He said further that this peace is “conditioned upon obedience to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. …No man is at peace with himself or his God who is untrue to his better self, who transgresses the law of what is right either in dealing with himself by indulging in passion, in appetite, yielding to temptations against his accusing conscience, or in dealing with his fellowmen, being untrue to their trust. Peace does not come to the transgressor of law; peace comes by obedience to law, and it is that message which Jesus would have us proclaim among men.”
I realized then, that the peace that I was looking for was not found in things of the world but the things of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings us that peace that we all yearn for, that we search for. It brings us the comfort that all will be well through our times of grief, strife, struggles and trials. Peace can be found when we start to change our lives for the better, when we seek to do what has been asked of us by our Heavenly Father. To take his council and to follow through with it! Living righteously blesses our lives with peace knowing that because we are living righteously we will be well.

A story that I love in the New Testament is of Christ calming the seas, it says: (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/8.26?lang=eng#25)

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea; obey him!

 Joseph B. Wirthlin said, The phrase “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39), that the Savior uttered when he calmed the storm-tossed sea, can have the same calming influence upon us when we are buffeted by life’s storms. During the Passover feast, the Savior taught his disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27.) There will always be times of trial, but how we must know that all will be well when we rely on the Savior. That his army of mercy is extended towards us and he will bring us that peace and comfort we are seeking. As I examined my life, I am so grateful that I changed my view of peace. That I looked toward the one source that brought me that peace. The savior himself said, "Peace, be Still."(Mark 4:39) How still must we be in order to have those promptings that he has prepared for us in order to continue moving forward in this life. I know this to be true, life is hard. I have faced many hard circumstances that have brought me clsoer to my Savior and how grateful I am for those moments in my life. I know that as we strive to look towards the Savior that he will bring peace to our times of strife! May we all look towards Christ!

He is always there to guide us to peace through life's storms.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1991/04/peace-within?lang=eng&query=peace 

(Peace Within-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin April 1991 General Conference)

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United in a cause!

This week has been incredible! We have been working on unity now, more than ever! Which brings me to the topic of unity! Unity is so key to missionary work, the spirit of unity not only helps your companionship but your teaching. In Mosiah we read: “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another” (Mosiah 18:21). This week we had a miracle that brought more strenght to our companionship! We have an investigator who when we saw last Sunday was struggling with Word of Wisdom but we reassured him that if he prayed, continued reading from the Book of Mormon, and attending church that he would be able to overcome this problem! We called him yesterday to see if he was going to be at church today and sadly found out that he had to work but that he was going to be there next week. As he was telling us this he expressed that he had been 7 days nicotene free! 7 days!! How excited we were for him! We put him on speaker phone and expressed our excitement for him and to continue reading from the Book of Mormon and to continue praying so that in due time he could be ready to be baptized on March 17! I know that this was not possible without the Lord. This experience helped Sister Tucker and I become more unified in our purpose and thus bringing the spirit of unity to our companionship. Our purpose as missionaries is to bring others unto Christ through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and eventually take the necessary steps to enter the waters of baptism and as companions we must have the spirit of unity to work together and to help this purpose be fulfilled! May we all be united in a righteous cause!

"The miracle of unity is granted to us as we pray and work for it. Our hearts will be knit together in unity."- President Henry B. Eyring 
We at the end of this last Transfer were all united in one purpose
(Sister Tucker on the left, I am next to her, Elder Mcqueen is next to me and Elder Carter is on the far right)

Knitting Our Hearts Together: President Eyring http://www.lds.org/liahona/2010/08/knitting-our-hearts-together?lang=eng&query=unity

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There are no dead ends

 This week, while visiting a less-active or trying too anyways, Sister Tucker and I ran across a sign at the end of this street (pictured on the right) that said: The Dead End. Now, don't be mistaken this is not what usual Dead End Street Signs say, this one however, was special. We have all felt at some point or another in our lives that we have hit, if you will, "The Dead End". We feel as if there is no way that we can turn back, no way we can get out and no way we can make it out. During these trying time in our lives we may forget that there is a way out! This way out is only made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Having hope in our Savior will help us endure to the end and especially endure through these trying times.President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said, "The things we hope in sustain us during our daily walk. They uphold us through trials, temptations, and sorrow. Everyone has experienced discouragement and difficulty. Indeed, there are times when the darkness may seem unbearable. It is in these times that the divine principles of the restored gospel we hope in can uphold us and carry us until, once again, we walk in the light." (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-infinite-power-of-hope?lang=eng&query=hope)
How important is it that we hold fast to the gospel in our lives during these trying times? We must hold strong to the values which we believe in and hold the arm of our Savior as he helps us through these experiences. Elder Bednar in the October 2011 Ensign describes the 3 groups that where in Lehi's dream, he specifically describes group 3 by saying, "The third group also pressed forward with faith and conviction; however, there is no indication that they wandered off, fell into forbidden paths, or were lost. Perhaps this third group of people consistently read and studied and searched the scriptures. Perhaps it was diligence and devotion to a seemingly “small and simple [thing]” (Alma 37:6) that saved the third group from perishing."
(http://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/10/lehis-dream-holding-fast-to-the-rod?lang=eng)
I know that life at times seems like it's The Dead End but let us not forget how infinite the sacrifice of the Savior was for each of his children on this earth, that there is no Dead End. He will help us overcome any obstacle in our lives as we turn to him with open hearts and sincere prayer as we humble ourselves before him.

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