The Book of Jacob....it just became my favorite book in the whole Book of Mormon

So who knew that this book would literally become full of notes and highlighted text all in a matter of an hour and there is still more to go!
As I was reading this book I got a real sense of what our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson thinks about as he prepares to speak to all the church. (Perfect thing to study with General Conference coming up in about 2 weeks!) So one thing that I wanted to point out is in Chapter 4, verses 4-5:

For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

 5 Behold, they believed in Christ and worship the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.

Can I just say that I fell in love with that? These whole scriptures are written so that way people know that we have a belief in Christ. So that those who are reading know that these prophets testified of Christ long before he was to come. The other cool thing? They understood the law of Moses. All these sacrifices that they were doing were to point them towards Christ. It is a commandment that we always remember Christ (see Mosiah 18:9) and this was the way for them to do it. By sacrificing they were remember what Christ would do for them many years later. How cool? They understood and they didn't even have that witness that he had come yet? They believed in a man who would eventually come down, they had no proof only belief. I am so grateful for the scriptures! They have such great examples of people with faith, because without faith we can do nothing. Faith leads to action.

Just a reminder for everyone! This is the best thing ever!!

Why am I serving a mission?

     I never thought that I had this question, or that it would be answered during my own personal study but it turns out that I was wrong. 
I have been rereading the Book of Mormon and got to 2 Nephi Chapter 25 which is when Nephi is talking about the prophet Isaiah. He talks about how clearly Isaiah writes and how exciting it is that Christ will come. I'm not sure how clear Isaiah really is, because quite frankly, I still find him confusing at times. However, I was going through this chapter when I ran into verse 23 which reads: 
"For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."
     In that short small instance I realized why there are missionaries. We come talking about our gospel because we know that we are saved by Christ. We need to have faith in Him or else, what is his purpose for us? Just like a parent, what good are they if there is no communication. Then we are saved through his grace (the Atonement), after ALL WE CAN DO. We must do our best and try our hardest, no if's, and's, or but's.
After reading on I really liked verse 26 which says:
 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
     Christ is important and He is the center of our message. We, as missionaries, do everything through Christ so those on Earth will know where to look in order to return to live back with Heavenly Father and their families again. This is why I'm serving a mission, so those here on Earth can know how to be happy and to know their purpose in life. Once again I rediscovered my faith in this Gospel. I know that I can be with my family forever and I know that it is through the Atonement of Christ that all things are possible. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission and share with others what makes me happy. 

Spiritual Thought for the Day!

Welcome to my blog!
So as part of my mission I want to try and post a spiritual thought every day or at least from Tuesday to Saturday every week. So feel free to comment and share your testimony as well!
So here is this today's thought:
So as I was reading my scriptures this morning I came across this awesome scripture in 1 Nephi 13:40 which reads "And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved."
I loved this scripture so much because it talks about how the Book of Mormon is a witness of the Bible. That is it's role. Then it shows that many plain and precious things have been taken out of the Bible so that those who are seeking for the truth know that there is still so much more to know! I am grateful for the knowledge that we have! The Book of Mormon and the Bible together work so hard to prove to this world that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I am grateful for this knowledge that I have!
http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages-gallery#a-book-of-mormon-story
I watched this short clip in the MTC and absolutely fell in love with it! The video is beautiful and the story is touching as well! I think it also helps that the man is British...