Putting Self Aside

Hello, from Sunny Fiji!!! 

I am being transformed here, in a work that is forever transforming the lives of others--and teaching me lessons and gaining me attributes that will contribute to my whole eternal existence.  I am fulfilling the purposes for which I came to earth to bring about.  

​These are some of our friends who are beginning to learn more about Jesus Christ and to feel His love in their lives.  This little girl made us some tiny mud muffins, so we accepted and captured the moment of delight before the bitter faces of taste from mud. 

I have learned that whenever we yield ourselves to the Lord, He stands ready to use us at the very moments when we allow ourselves to be so used. 

I have so many trials... the work is extremely demanding--and I really do love it.  I know that when we have trials that just means Heavenly Father is ready for us to grow.  One of my dear friends told me, "The future is bright when you do right."  And it is true. 

I know that our adversity is the door to the Atonement--reaching it's fullness on a deeper and more transforming level.   That is the main reason why I ask the Lord to use my trials as much as He wants to make me all He is.  And it is happening. 

I have had so many times in my mission where everyone has turned their back on me but the Lord.  I am so thankful for these times, because they connect me to the Lord on a deeper level than anything else could.  I know that He will never abandon us, because I have experienced it for myself first-hand.  The hottest trials make the purest diamonds and gold--and I am only aiming for a fullness of my potential, and that makes me voluntarily jumping into the hottest spot.  I am happiest here in the hottest spot, because it is the closest place to the Savior. 

I have been continuing to hold to my covenants to stand for Christ in all circumstances, and it has earned me the shame and despisal of the world, and having all backs turned upon me.  In this, I have chosen joy. I know that my Father is pleased with me, and so my confidence has waxed strong in His sight.  

My covenants and promises to the Lord that I would give all, all my life, wasn't between man or men; it was between me and God.  That is where is stand, forever. 

Heavenly Father designed me to glow.  

And now that glow is being initiated on levels that even I never knew were within me.  I have yielded all my heart and all my will and all my submission and obedience to my Heavenly Father, and because of it, I am being made an entirely new being.  As the trials up their grade, the version of me is upgraded.

I was given a sacred glance in the distance of my exaltation and eternal increase if I hold out faithful.  And this eternal perspective is why I can hold on and do so cheerfully though all of earth and hell combine against me.  

I have asked Heavenly Father to design of me a version of me and a future family that will be able to withstand all of the fire and trials of the last days and to move forward and upward into His eternal fullness.  This result requires the price--and the price is all I am and have and  more.  

The day has been promised to each of us if we will enter His path and take on all of the ordinances and promises that He has made available once more for this last time while earth shall yet a little while longer stand--that if we take Him up on this our only and last chance to reach our full potential, that He promises to us that that day will come when we will stand glorified and grand, breathtakingly perfect in body and mind and to come forward and receive the fullness of all that was prepared for us from before the foundations of the world were laid and we set out on this quest and promised we would prove faithful in the journey. 

Christ is why and the how of all questions.  He is able to transform us.  And any path but Him, does not lead to our goal of eternal life and happiness and the riches of eternity. 

There will be times when no mortal will be there to pick you up.  And that is because Heavenly Father trusts you. 

I know that Heavenly Father is our only anchor, and the seas are about to get rougher than the world has ever seen.  This moment is our time to set our priorities and be unrelenting in them.  

Heavenly Father tells each of us, "I am making you refined to be a man and a king over my eternal kingdom with me; I have prepared a place for you, and am proving you in this stewardship, to see if you are worthy of a far more and greater. If you prove faithful in all things, you shall be a joint heir with Christ, to receive all that I have. This is your destiny.  For this purpose sent I you." that is the promise He offers us through the Savior Jesus Christ.

That is the most challenging , trying  thing, because it is the most rewarding.  

Your Heavenly Father knows what He is doing.  He tells each of us, "I can make you into whatever you ask me.  So ask carefully and then be willing to act.  As you are improving and turning more to Christ, I can make of you more than you have ever been."

We are helping families become eternal.  I know that this gospel is true, and this path is the only path that leads to eternal joy and a fullness thereof, and all are invited to come and none are turned away--but the time will cut all off who do not choose to attach themselves to such eternal perspectives.  

We are our own judges.  We can choose how fully we will turn to Christ--and that will determine everything.  

At Baptism we promise T.A.K.E. but it take.S, all we have :)

Take upon us the name of Christ in our actions and natures, 

Always remember Him, and thus be transformed in our actions and motives

Keep His commandments in all things at all times

Endure to the end and enjoy the blessings of progressing and being Sanctified.

We had to eat poisonous food this week, but through prayer, we were blessed to be unharmed. 

We have a 73 year old woman named Mrs Narayan who will be baptized this week.  I have never seen someone so prepared and ready and watched over by the Lord.  We were prompted to go up to her house up a hill off of the road and ask if she would be baptized if she came to know our message was true and truly from God.  She said yes, and now, only a month later, she is going to be baptized.  Her eternity and who she is has changed for the unimaginably better, eternally.  And we have been humbly blessed to be firsthand witnesses of it. 

This has been one of the best things I have learned this week, and it is transforming my relationship with my Heavenly Father:

Stop your mind... pause it for a moment in time and just hear what Heavenly Father has to speak to you ; what the Spirit is saying.

On Sunday, there were nearly 200 people that showed up.  We were amazed.  

How far have I traveled in my mission?  Geographically, distance wise, 12,000km.  But, I hope figuratively, 12,00km in character and spirit.  Development and difference.  So different that old me is so distant and negatively different that it is 12,000km across a sea of change.  

Families Can be Eternal (and a GPS that can't lead you wrong)

I want to tell you about an exercise that is changing my life and perfecting my decision making skills and character.  This advice and practice came from the Lord to one of His modern-day Apostles.  It is a skill that helps me to have my perfect potential, perfectly reached--one small moment's decision at a time:  

I come to you with a question about eternal memories you are building in your lives. Are they followed by the comment “I wish I had,” or can you say, “I’m glad I did”?

Reaching back into history, if we could select just one principle that would especially contribute to the “I’m glad I did” memories, what would it be? It would be the principle of obedience.1

We all make daily entries in our book of life. Occasionally we examine the entries we are making. What kind of memories will flood your mind as you examine the pages of your personal entries? How many pages will contain “I wish I had” entries?
Fill Your Book of Life by Elder L. Tom Perry


I have put this into practice.  I make time at the end of each day to--with my Heavenly Father--look at my day that has passed, and examine with His help, those places where I can proudly and happily say in confidence, "I'm glad I did..."  I make lists of things; always writing at least one instance.  And then, when in my memory I may come across those things where in any degree I will honestly face myself and say, "I wish I had.." I don't dwell on it or beat myself up; I simply also will write a simple brief plan while listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to my heart and mind, as to how I will make sure that when next faced with the same thing that once made my say "I wish I had" when looking back; I'm now ready to turn it into an "I'm glad I did."

This is changing my life in little and therefore powerful ways.  I am watching myself only make choices I am proud of; and more importantly, that I know are eternally blessing me and countless others and which are earning me heaven's smiles.  



Changes in our natures, and true joy, only come as we look to and connect in real ways, to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ--the only way to healing, enabling power, strength, redemption, forgiveness, resurrection, the reality of eternal families, and of exaltation with our Father in Heaven for all the many eternities yet to come. 



This power can exalt us if we will attach ourselves firmly to it, one prayerful plea at a time, is what accesses it as we look courageously to Christ for His enabling and strengthening power. 



Try this out and watch the satisfying results in your own life!






My Eternal Father.  The most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of my Spirit.  It is His prophet's witness along with mine, that He knows you.  He loves you with a perfect and individual love.  He wants you to know that you matter to Him. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf "You Matter to Him.")

He lives and I testify that He loves you, adores you, and cherishes you--even though you might be thinking, "well, not me. "  When the truth and reality of this message sinks deep into your heart, you are drawn back to Him--to His love, to His light, and His arms.  

It's amazing how, once we know through trying out personal prayer, that Heavenly Father really adores and cherishes and accepts us individually, all other good things automatically flow.  The only thing that blocks our progression in this life, is when we begin to lose full sight of that love, or doubt it.  

I testify that one of the most powerful and productive things you can do, is to believe in your Heavenly Father's love for you.  Light and change and progression and satisfaction in the beauties of life and steps in the right direction will automatically flow.



Do you know that your Family can be Together Forever?
I testify of this truth, with all my heart.  I know that God intended the family to be eternal.  If you really desire to know how, you are going to gain the most, by searching it and desiring it from yourself and your own motivation--but I will provide you the link, and my testimony that I know it is true.  God has told me so, and it is the greatest truth that encompasses all of the highest joys of life.  There is no greater thing you could come to know, than how your Savior has made it possible for those relationships to be perfected and eternal in all the eternities to come.  And that you can know these things, with certainty for yourself:

>> Your Family Can be Eternal <<


I also make you a promise about the the powerful gift God has given the world in these the very last days: even the Book of Mormon.  

I can make you a promise, that you will run around searching, you will run around hungry and empty and knowing there is something missing in your life until you read the Book of Mormon; doing a real, hungry, serious study of it--this is perhaps the only route I can promise you will bind up all your wounds, heal your soul, answer your needs, answer every problem and question, fix your heart and awaken you to your grand, divine, exciting, joyful purpose in this life.  But I do guarantee that you will feel empty and hungry and like something is missing until you do do it.  I don't challenge you this for my sake.  I challenge you to do this for your own sake--because of the blessings it has brought into my life.  I know my Savior personally, because of this Book.  I have the joy I have, because of that book. 

I know it is the word of God, to heal us and answer every question of the soul. 

Only Faith has the power to unlock knowledge of eternal truths.  And faith has no power without deliberate actions of some kind--moving toward Christ, linking ourselves to Him in real practical ways, today. 



These are indian treats  :)

This week, I have been blessed to learn how, when we turn problems over to the Atonement, they come back to us with solutions.  But if we don't turn conflicts or dilemmas over to the Atonement, nothing productive happens.  I love the Atonement and how there isn't a single aspect of existence that isn't affected by it!  It encompasses all! 

When someone offends me or hurts me, it has no negative power over me.  Not because I'm special, but because the Atonement is special; and not only special but real and usable in practical, daily ways. 


I just turn all negative things over to the Atonement, and they come back to me as only blessings and joys and growth.  It feels like I am cheating at the game of life or something, but it's power is real and God wants us to come unto Him and learn how to use this greatest of all blessings! 



This was a feast we had yesterday with a member at their home. The Dau family. These foods--are not found in America!

I know that exact obedience has made me so productive!  It is a joy to watch EXACT obedience make me exactly in line not only with my dear Heavenly Father, but in line and connected to His power--and His daily and undeniable miracles.  

Our investigators and new converts are seeing miracles and all their problems are being solved--their red seas that were such a devastating problem last week are clearing.  I know that the Lord was right when He told me : trust in Me with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own fear or confusion; in all ways acknowledge Me, and one step at a time you will see work done from both sides of the veil for your people you are serving in my Son's name. 

​

We have sooo many people ready to come to Sacrament meeting.  We have 3 Baptismal Dates that are on track--except one is overcoming addictions with our help and the Lord.  We are about to watch souls truly come unto Christ. 

One miracle was that one of our investigators needs a job so she can support herself and move out of her boyfriend's house to prep for baptism... and last Monday, we saw 9 job openings in just one chain of stores on one road in town--not only that, but they were all "Salesgirl" vacancies!  That's the only job she said she will apply for.  The Lord is making Himself sooo obvious!  She went down and applied for all of them the very next day when we told her about them; and by the time she got down there, there was even another that had another vacancy!  

I know that this is the true work of God.  

I am holding nothing back--nothing at all from the altar of sacrifice.

​Cross the bridge.  We can walk away from Satan's lies.  We can be pure through Christ.  We can know Heavenly Father adores and cherishes us, and that itself will give us the power we need to walk the roads ahead.  The journey doesn't lead to rewards only, it is littered with rewards at every smallest step.  "Celebrate now", as my mother says :)

I have a relationship that predates my mortal birth.  I know that my role did not begin on earth--it began before I was born and continues in the glories and realities of eternity.  That is all I am living for.  

Live by following this G P S : Gratitude Prayer Smiling 

And you won't go wrong ;)

The only living that is soul-satisfying is the living that is sole-focused on the family and the Savior. 

The Reality: Time is up

This week, I asked my companion if he would give me a haircut.  He insinuated that he had some experience in this kind of thing and would be happy to.  We excitedly looked forward to a spare 15 minutes we could somehow magically create somehow in the following days(near impossible with how diligently and non-stop we work for the Lord in His vineyard of Fiji).  When we finally were sitting down and my apron was all tied up good and he had the shaver in-hand, we had a prayer, and then just before starting he admitted that he really has no experience in cutting hair... I maybe just imagined I heard him say he'd done it before. Haha!  

We laughed and he chopped off all my hair. 



--Just kidding; not all of it. 

I suppose every missionary gets this experience at least once on his or her mission.  

Great thing was, it actually turned out good! I was pleased! 



As I share the gospel in Hindi here and continue to speak in other languages as well, people are blown away and surprised.  The power of the Lord is reaching all the open hearts he places in our path.  

Often I have heard: "Your Hindi is so good.  Many Hindi people don't even know Hindi this good!"  
I testify that in whatever our calling is under the Lord, He magnifies us in our weakness as we turn to Him and never stop continuing FORWARD.  All are promised the reward who never stop walking forward. 

This week, I experienced the most pain of my whole mission so far.  I witnessed people making choices that might spiritually destroy them.  In the place of the Savior, as we walk with Him and love as He would love and work in His service for the children of God, we will face the kinds of pain He did. 

But it will be swallowed up in the Joy of Christ if we are firmly attaching ourselves to Him, relentlessly! Daily.



The Lord is changing me.  

Read the words of the Lord's true living Prophet upon the earth: 
Ponder the Path of Thy Feet
“I am certain we left our Father with an overwhelming desire to return to Him, that we might gain the exaltation He planned for us and which we ourselves so much wanted. Although we are left to find and follow that path which will lead us back to our Father in Heaven, He did not send us here without direction and guidance. Rather, He has given us the tools we need, and He will assist us as we seek His help and strive to do all in our power to endure to the end and gain eternal life.

“To help guide us we have the words of God and of His Son found in our holy scriptures. We have the counsel and teachings of God’s prophets. Of paramount importance, we have been provided with a perfect example to follow—even the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—and we have been instructed to follow that example. …

“As we examine the path Jesus walked, we will see that it took Him through many of the same challenges we ourselves will face in life. …

“… Jesus walked the path of disappointment. …

“Jesus walked the path of temptation. …

“Jesus walked the path of pain. …

“Each of us will walk the path of disappointment, perhaps because of an opportunity lost, a power misused, a loved one’s choices, or a choice we ourselves make. The path of temptation too will be the path of each. …

“Likewise shall we walk the path of pain. We, as servants, can expect no more than the Master, who left mortality only after great pain and suffering.

“While we will find on our path bitter sorrow, we can also find great happiness.

“We, with Jesus, can walk the path of obedience. …

“We, like Jesus, can walk the path of service. …

“Jesus walked the path of prayer. …

“As we strive to place Christ at the center of our lives by learning His words, by following His teachings, and by walking in His path, He has promised to share with us the eternal life that He died to gain. There is no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept His discipline and become His disciples and do His work throughout our lives. Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can.”

I am yielding to Heavenly Father's changes He sees fit to inflict upon me.  I am being put through the hottest fires.  And in this is my joy and my opportunity to rise with Him.  I am choosing to weld myself unto my destiny: To become all Heavenly Father desires of me--greater things than the world has power to know; even one who is ready to be put through the fires of eternally refining flame and sanctification unto transformation.  The Lord has created a path for us... and this path can make us all we have potential to be--even, to  be a being that has no limit to potential in any degree.

This week's read  << Click here and read the chapter please | Take time to meditate. Many times you will be wrestling with problems, the solution of which can be spiritually discerned.9
Don’t get so busy that you don’t have time to meditate. Take the time. The most important testimony does not come by sight, but by the inner witness. Christ may be nearer than we have knowledge. “I am in your midst, but you do not see me. The Holy Ghost bears the sure witness. Mine eyes are upon you. The day cometh when ye shall know that I am.”


I know the Second Coming of the Savior is now upon us and time is not lengthened out.  I testify that we have today to get ready and not tomorrow.  We must seize the moment of now to lay everything on the line for Christ. 

We are to be completely given over to Christ in every aspect of our lives, starting with moment "now."



This week, we have witnessed miracles greater than the parting of the Red Sea. 

We had to get to appointments in the day, but it was pouring rain so hard and thick.  Our main problem was that my companion had accidentally left his umbrella at a home we visited the day before.  We humbly prayed that the Lord would open the way before us; and according to our faith and obedience in exactness, He would.  We looked out over the vast valleys and palm trees and saw only rain for miles and only thick dark clouds for what would be projected to last hours and hours, and we were needing to leave the flat in just under an hour.  But the Lord is master of the elements. 

We reached the time when we needed to leave our flat, and the Lord parted the way before us!  He gave us a window!  The rain around us stopped!  We walked out and looked up in the sky, and in awe and pure amazement, we saw that there were thick dark clouds everywhere in every direction, except for one big line across the sky.  This big long opening was a straight and unwavering line direct to the house we needed to go.  We took pictures and were thanking Heavenly Father humbly and joyfully.  He made a opening that was clear and blue, directly going to the house that had Elder Singh's umbrella!  We got the umbrella and we thanked Heavenly Father and continued on in His work, saving souls and parting their Red Sea problems and worries and needs. 

I know that the Lord is real and lives and loves and knows you; He Understands.  That is the most reassuring truth.  I don't know it because I witnessed a true miracle of godly proportions, but I know it because the Holy Ghost has quietly whispered it to my heart from my personal prayers with my personal, loving Heavenly Father in quiet moments where my hungry, yearning heart has sought Him.  It is only by personal revelation from the Spirit that we know anything true and eternal.  These things are more powerful than any outward miracle.  

We come to earth and are welded to earthly things--trials break us from those, and weld us back to our eternal divinity and power, IF we look to, follow, act on, and love Christ by learning to access and use His Atonement.  

The world has enough people like the world.

Choose to be like the Celestial Destinations you are aiming for with Christ and Heavenly Father. This is the only thing that won't leave you hollow and empty inside. 

Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.  _joshua j marine quote

I testify of Christ and His ability to lift us up if we but lift our eyes to Him. 

Choose Him today. 
Tomorrows are finished.

Are we prepared to meet Him? There is nothing now to obscure His view of us; and there will be nothing to obscure our view of Him, very soon.  I know that.  Meeting Him will be fully pleasing if we have first done those things that make Him as familiar to us as we are to Him.  Serve Him.  Become like Him.  Feel closer to Him.  With Christ's help we can reach our divine potential in our choices; this day. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

_Elder Howard

Someone Must Stand

Many sacred things happened this week.  The heavens are not closed--and God is certainly on top of absolutely everything.  I will share what I am able to.


Transfers didn't move me or my companion.  We remain in Lautoka Hindi area! :)



























It was after a big Zone Training Meeting where maybe 20-40 missionaries come over and have a meeting to discuss and organize the work and set goals and give trainings and build unity in the mission.

Me, my companion, and about 10 other missionaries all walked to town to one of our favorite restaurants to eat lunch.  We have investigators there whom we are teaching, and who are outstanding people.

This food place usually plays very worldly and crude music--which has very offensive and explicit lyrics.  Usually everyone ignores it and allows it to continue on while they eat and talk.

Everyone was just moving on with their meals and letting it continue... and Heavenly Father instilled a passion and fire in me that taught me something that has now become me--who I am.

That was this: that I am on earth to positively and righteously act; to be an influence and affect those things Father places me accordingly to affect.  No situation I am ever in is for me to just allow darkness in and not turn on light--for the power is in my and I am an agent of my Savior who lives and empowers me.

I realized, someone must get up.  We are children of God, children of Light, children of eternal, divine nature and glory and potential and promise... we are only meant to stand and act upon the world for righteousness.

Someone must stand.

I chose to stand.






















I stood up and walked over to the counter and approached the workers to please change the music.  I did it kindly, but firmly and apologetically.  The manager wasn't in at the time, and they said they would have to wait till he was back.

I approached him as soon as possible and handed him a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD and asked if he could play it over to loudspeakers instead of this current music.

I didn't know what his answer would be--only knew what God's opinion was, and what He had prompted me to do.

The boss said yes!

He convinced his employees to put the CD in, and for the entire time we were there from then on, songs like "Nearer My God to Thee," "Be Still My Soul," "Sweet River," and others about the Savior and Heavenly Father and their love, filled the room and the many customers calmly listened and were affected.

The atmosphere of the room changed.

It felt as if we were teaching 12 lessons at one time.  The Lord was able to speak to each individual personally by His spirit and love, and we were able to bask in watching the affects of a choice we could have just brushed over and missed.

Our covenants to God make it so we have to actively always be a real agent for good.  You are a thing to act; that means you are to take all the things that are to be acted upon and act upon \all of them for good.

We are upon earth to be bold and just as out there and unashamed as sin is in its blatant assaults in our time.  We must stand as shining as our Father would if He were in our place, for we represent Him in our character and actions--for we are His children and if we will prove ourselves for this short time, He has promised to give us all He hath, even a fullness of exaltation with our families and the Lord Himself in the eternal glories He hath prepared for the valiant and faithful in these most trying, refining, defining and testing days.

I also learned, that God gives us gifts for a reason beyond all material matter itself--that is that He only gives us gifts for these gifts to multiply; and all gifts from God only multiply if you give them away for others and Him.  Serving Him is the most selfish thing you could do, in the end. :)  He gives those gifts to us, only which He sees will enable us to give.  And this so we can learn the happiest secrets He has to offer the children who will follow after His example and thereby prepare themselves to be rulers over many things which He will then entrust to them once they learn these lessons of giving all and holding back none.

I have been able to look over my entire life these past few weeks.  Heavenly Father has been showing me who I once was as a child, and how far I have come.  It is like watching seeds be planted, and then coming back 15 years later and seeing a forest of thriving trees, firmly rooted and bearing fruit and seeds of their own.  The Lord withholds no good thing from those who withhold nothing from Him--and only with the help of the Savior's atonement can we really give acceptable offerings, for I am unworthy of myself, truly.  The Lord is the Master Gardener of my life.

Heavenly Father is really changing my pliable heart.

We have baptisms coming up and miracles every day