It's [Not] The end of the world as we know it!

And Rapture didn't occur! A good thing? Well, maybe, this world could sure use a second coming, but unless its revealed through the mouth of an actual prophet, I wont read too much into it.

With the passing of another week, we have several miracles witnessed, and handful of new people to teach, and one new person to be baptized! Also gained, is a goose egg for trying to take on some scaffolding with my forehead, but that's another story. Becky Gloria will be baptized on June 11th, and we're super pumped! We have seen her and her family come such a long way, and though I've only been here for the past little bit of it, it's still a miracle to see the changes that keep occurring in the family each and every day. It truly is a motivation to do better in my life, and really see what God can do for me.

So in lew of the supposed Judgement day, it actually created quite the teaching opportunities. A lot of people kept thinking they needed to repent, and they needed to change their lives, and they needed to do better, when in all reality, we should be living in such a way that we are prepared to go whenever it happens. Whether it be the ending of the world, or the ending of our lives. Alma 34:33 says:

"And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

We need to improve ourselves in this life, because after this life, we can't do it. Why is it so important not to procrastinate our repentance "until the end"? Because "...of that day and hour" of the second coming "knoweth no man" (Mathew 24:36). We don't know when it will be too late, so it's better that we prepare ourselves now.

What is another reason why we shouldn't put off our repentance? Because of the wasted time that could have been spent progressing, and because of the difficulty of overcoming a deeply rooted sin. Alma was someone who knew the hardships of sin. He was someone who was called "the vilest of sinners" (Mosiah 28:4), but then later became the leader of the church after a long and painful struggle. He knew something of how it felt to undergo such a painful repentance process, and of the time wasted wallowing in sin. No wonder he cries with so much zeal on the subject that it causes him "great anxiety even unto pain" (Alma 13:27). President Henry B. Eyring taught that "the only way out [is]... to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, to have a broken heart, to repent, and so be cleansed, changed, and strengthened through the Lord’s Atonement. ...it [is] still possible. ...but so much harder than it would... [be] to exercise faith early in [our lives] on the journey home to God... when [you] first [begin] to wander." (Help Them on Their way home; Saturday morning session, April '10)

So let us show our faith early in our life. Let us stop the sins before they overcome us, and let us live is such a way that no matter when the world ends, we will be ready, and grateful for the chance to be "taken home to that God who gave [us] life" (Alma 40:11)

I love and miss you all!

-- Elder Keenan Monnett