Week 56!

With Elder Judd - a former classmate at Brighton High School!

     I cannot believe how fast time is going! We had a good week this week. Last week we went to the biggest mall in Asia and I was intense!! Holy cow it was huge! Blew my mind. There was even a Cold Stone...but I held strong.  Then we had Temple P-day! So that is why I am emailing today! I truthfully cannot describe the peace and joy I feel at the temple! I just cannot stop smiling. Everyone looks at me so weird. I am just so happy!! Through thick and thin I have found my Savior. Now on to the spiritual side!

The Adachi Trio!

     Today I wanted to talk about trials! A word, when looked at in a certain light, is viewed as a deterrent in our lives. It is viewed as something that weighs us down and something we all wish we did not have to face all the time. But, if we look at trials in a different light, the Light of Christ, we can see that trials are God's way of letting us access the Atonement. He will never send a trial we cannot face or a battle we cannot win. Absolutely they can hurt and humble us in every way, but that is the refiner's fire. It is a test of our faith. Many times in our life, in our hearts, seeds of faith are planted, but sometimes they are planted in deep soil and they do not receive the water they need to grow until a storm comes. Those storms give those seeds a chance to receive the growth that can turn into a certain knowledge where our faith can go dormant. I truly thank God every day for the storms he sends in my life, because my faith in our Savior, even Jesus the Christ, has grown into a sound knowledge. He suffered everything that we have and will suffer. He knows us. But sometimes, maybe we need to experience trials in order to know Him. Perhaps we need to experience the depths of mortality in order to understand Him. He could have known how to succor us simply by revelation, but He chose to learn by His own personal experience. He chose to experience what we felt, because he has an undoubting love for us. He felt our pain. He knows our pain. Pain. Another word with a negative connotation, but "pain is a gauge of the healing process. It often teaches us patience. Perhaps that is why we use the term patient in referring to the sick." 

     In times of pain and trial, sometimes the only way we can make it is to endure. Empower our faith and patiently endure. Face the storm with our Savior and have the faith that He will calm it. Yes it hurts sometimes, but pain lowers you down to a level of humility that allows you to ponder. It brings us closer to the Father. I wanted to write a message of hope today. Never give up, never give in, and never give out. Hold strong! I know life can have hardship sometimes, sometimes all the time, but we can make it! Let these storms of life allow your seeds of faith to grow and set a foundation for our conversion on the Savior. Through these storms, let us stand on that Rock of a foundation and endure. Everyone has mountains to climb. You are not alone. You never will be. 

     Have the best week ever!

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken