He is the Word!

     Hello everyone!  I had a great lesson this week where we have been trying to get this investigator to pray for months and I finally just said, look, I cannot speak this language very well but I can give a short testimony. I did, and the spirit was so strong and he agreed to pray for the first time ever! It was a cool opportunity.  Also this week, I prayed for revelation of what to teach another investigator and I felt I should talk about family history. He has been taught for 40 years now!  His wife would not let him get baptized and he is scared to ask again. But I asked him if he has ever heard of family history and if I could see his ancestors. He said, no it is too difficult to find them. I told him about our website and he
just lit up.  He told me that he would be at the next next Friday at 7:30 if I would teach him about it, so I hope I can renew his desire.  We always set 2 baptismal dates in our mission which I love.  You set their baptismal date and then set the date for them to do the work for their family one month later!



     I love this mission!  I love this country!  I love this people!  I truly treasure the time here I have to serve these people!  But moreover this week I want to talk about the things we need to treasure and hold dear to our hearts in this life. In 3 Nephi 13:19-21 it gives us a clear direction:

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal.

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Could you find a way that it could be better put than in verse 21? I
cannot!  I love how it continues in the next 2 verses.

22 The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be
single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is
that darkness!

     I read this and I realized the truth that encompasses these two short verses. I have said it early every week and I will say it again. KEEP YOUR EYES ON CHRIST!!! The light of the body is the eye because what we set our eyes upon, fills our mind and our whole body with what we have seen. Many people focus their eyes on the lust of drugs, alcohol, and especially today, pornography. These plagues fill our lives with darkness, but if there is one thing we know it is that all darkness is the absence of light. If we set our eyes on the Savior and His teachings, darkness cannot remain where light resides.

     This week I wanted to talk about setting our eyes on Christ, but more specifically his teachings in the scriptures. We need to ask ourselves if we are viewing the scriptures, or are we setting our eyes on the scriptures. Are we letting "thine eye be single," with the scriptures so our bodies can be full of light. Elder Christofferson puts it that "the scriptures remind us of what we knew in the pre-mortal life, but also teaches us about what we were not able to experience in person."  Everyone in this world will feel of the power of the scriptures if they read them because they will remember what they already knew in the pre-mortal life, through feeling and thought. But also, we were not there to kneel at the side of Joseph Smith when he prayed and saw the Father and his Son, but through reading we know that that is true.
     Elder Christofferson continues, and this is my favorite part. He says that "Scripture tutors us in principles and moral values essential in maintaining civil society. Such as integrity, responsibility, selflessness, fidelity, charity." That is so amazing. I love how he puts it that the principles in the scriptures give us essential guidance in maintaining society. When King Benjamin and King Mosiah led their nations, they did so through the teachings of scripture. They led their nation in righteousness and the people loved them. It was only when the Nephites broke away from the scriptures that literally society fell. They broke into tribes and separated. 
     Here is the second point I love. It is the moral values themselves. They describe Christ. They are Christ. It was only through him that society was rebuilt that that time of the Nephites, and it is only through him in his Second Coming that everyone will be saved from the broken
society we will live in.
     Sorry, I just found so much power in the scriptures this week. The words of our modern day prophets is just further scripture basically. In D&C 1:38 we are told:

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voiceor by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

     So my challenge this week is to search these scriptures and let thy eye be single to the Lord and his works. If I have learned one thing here on my mission is that these scriptures have power. They will reach the end of the earth. The prophets of old did not die defending them for the outcome to be anything else. Everyone will receive a chance to read these things in their native language. The Tower of Babel never changed the truth! It might of changed the people's words. But God's word is God's word. I invite you to read these things. But moreover, seek to find what areas of your lives you find that these principles are prevalent, and the areas where they are not. Just fill in the empty spaces in your life with the characteristics of Christ and you shall receive no weakness. We need to be so grateful to have these scriptures given to us by our tender parent, Heavenly Father.       He preserved these words from the hands of the adversary for centuries and now we have them today. Gratitude is the catalyst of all Christlike attributes. Take the scriptures into your life and let thine eye be single so your whole body can be filled with light!! Keep your eyes on Christ! I love this gospel! I love these scriptures! I am here because I cannot and will not deny the truthfulness of these scriptures. I have let mine eye be single and I am filled with the light of Christ and I hold no other purpose in my soul than to spread
that light to these people and everyone I meet. I will never be the same. Tell me this is not true!!!! I love my Savior!! Have the best week everyone! Ai shiteimasu!
Love, 
Elder Trevor Aiken