Roads Through the Fog

Up here in the beautiful city of Fortuna, and the wonderful surrounding areas, we are right next to the coast. Along with the weather up here, and being right next to the coast, the area up here tends to get a lot of fog. The fog settles in and at times it can get quite heavy. I've driven through this fog many times on some back roads and main roads. There is something that I have learned though, the way to make it through the fog without driving off the road into a massive redwood tree, is to look at the lines on the road. The lines on the road would let me know if the road was curving or straight, and then I could handle the car in such a way that would keep my companion and myself from flying off the road. Such as is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The dream that the Prophet Lehi had explains a similar experience; "and there arose a mist of darkness; yea even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost" (1 Nephi 8:23). There are many of us who are "on the path" but when this fog settles over us, we lose our way. How are we to stay on the path, and fight through all the fog? It has to end sometime right? Well, again, in Lehi's dream he saw, "others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mists of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, until they did come forth..." (1 Nephi 8:24). These these that "clung to the rod of iron" were essentially pushing through the fog looking at the lines on the road. It guided them towards their destination. We must hold to this iron rod, which is the word of God so that we can be led towards salvation and eternal life. It will not lead us astray, just as if we are driving on a road and a heavy fog sets in, if we look at the lines in the road, we will not be lost. I know these things to be true; I know that if we hearken to the word of God, he will lead us towards lasting peace and happiness in this life and for eternity.

With love,

Elder Brennan Edwards

2000 Stripling Warriors

Today I want to talk about an event that took place in the Book of Mormon. It is the story of the Stripling Warriors. The word "stripling" means young, around the early to mid teenage years. These young men were of such age. The story takes place in the midst of a war between the Lamanites and the Nephites. These young men volunteer to go to war because their parents and the older men of their people have entered into a covenant with God to not take up arms against anyone. It was left to their sons to fight and aid the Nephites.

What COURAGE and FAITH it must have taken for these extremely young men to leave their families to fight for the liberty of their people! "They were men of TRUTH and SOBERNESS for they have been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before Him." The respect and admiration I have for these young men is immense. They were willing to die for the cause of liberty, the cause of family and the cause of God.

It was now time to put their faith and courage to the test. They went to battle against a very large army of Lamanites, much larger than their small band of 2000. When Helaman asks his "sons" if they should go to battle, the answer that was given are some of the most inspiring words that I have ever heard, especially from the mouths of such young men. They answered saying, "Father, behold our God is with us and he will not suffer that we should fall; them let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone." (Alma 56:46)

These young men have never fought before, and "yet they did not fear death" (Alma 56:47). Have you ever seen so great courage? They were selfless; they thought more "upon the liberty of their fathers" than their lives (Alma 56:47). What even amazes me further is this is how they were taught by their mothers. Their mothers taught them that, "if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." These sons did not doubt, they also "[did] not doubt [their] mothers knew it" (Alma 56:47-48). They went to battle, and not ONE stripling warrior was lost.

  I know that God keeps his promises to us. If we live according to the commandments that we are given, we too will become as these young stripling warriors. We will be delivered from adversity, we will overcome temptation, and we will triumph over the adversary. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have received from my loving parents, it is invaluable. I, like the stripling warriors, DO NOT DOUBT that my parents know of these things. I know with a deep conviction that God lives, His Son, Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and that through Him, we can obtain "never ending happiness" (Mosiah 2:41), forgiveness of our sins, and eternal life.

With love,
Elder Brennan Edwards

Overcoming the Original Sin

Hello all! Today, I wanted to touch on something that I encounter every day, pride. Pride is a "comparison" sin. As President Uchtdorf put it in his talk in the October 2010 General Conference, "pride is the sin of self elevation." I know that to be true.Too often in the scriptures do we find those who are "lifted up in the pride of their hearts." They set their hearts upon riches and worldly material that they harden their hearts against the Spirit of the Lord and to the gospel. An entire nation was destroyed in the Book of Mormon because of their pride. Their focus was on riches and fame, and not the Kingdom of God.

We are all victim at some point or another to pride. How do we stay away from this "original sin" that we are so naturally filled with? Is it any surprise that the answer is Jesus Christ? He is the ultimate example of humility. There is "opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2) so as we have pride, there is also humility. Jesus Christ submitted to the Father's will, and He was obedient in all that He was commanded.

So how do we become humble like the Savior? Charity. President Uchtdorf says in his talk, "it is almost impossible to be lifted up in pride when our hearts are full of charity" (Pride and the Priesthood). As an apostle once said, "humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it is thinking less about ourselves." As we fill our hearts with charity, the pure love of Christ, we will become humble. We will be able to avoid that all destroying sin of pride. Let us become humble as a little child for there's is the kingdom of heaven. Let us serve others and follow the example of the Savior, we will become humble, we will conquer pride, and we will be filled with the Spirit. I love you all and I hope that we can become filled with the pure love of Christ to overcome the pride of the world.

With love,
Elder Brennan Edwards