Maybe I said that last week, but the orthodox Easter was this week,
so I got to celebrate it twice. Everything here in Moldova is still
going well, the weather is warm, and the buses are more full then ever.
So just an interesting fact about Moldova, this is the only country
which sells beer in McDonalds, which is awesome. Also if you want to
get a better idea of what the culture is like here, check out this video or
just look up, traditional Albanian picnic. Moldova is almost the same,
except they would be wearing coats, and would be squatting instead of
sitting on the ground.
The parks here are awesome, and the contacting this week has been
really good because of the better weather. I think that people are just
more likely to believe in God if they see the sun. I dont know why that
is a correlation, but it is here.
Mom or Dad, send me the recipe for peanut butter cookies and
Grandpa's 12 tribes chart. Everyone else, the next time you see my
parents, remind them I need these things urgently.
For a spiritual thought, I really liked the scripture in D&C
29:34. So God truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That
means a lot of things, but I would like to focus on covenants. All of
our earthly covenants that we perform on the earth today
have always been that way. They aren't just weird things our church does
today, but they are much deeper, meaningful, and necessary that we can
comprehend, and they have always been that way and will never change. So
the way we perform covenants is obviously
a little different then they were in the beginning, for example, we
speak English, and ancient people did not. We are baptized while wearing
cloth white jump suits, and I doubt they had zippers in 4000 B.C. We
drink water for the sacrament, but we really could
use wine of our own make. The list goes on, but there is an important
thing that we have during these covenants and ordinances, which makes it
valid, and that is authority.
We can learn a lot about this in the Old
Testament, which is a book that is totally
underrated. "Beth-el" or "the place of God" or more exactly as it says
in Genesis 28:17 "this is none other then the house of God, and this is
the gate of heaven". This place of Beth-el is where God has communicated
with His Prophets, ie Genesis 35:15. Sometimes
Beth-el was just on a mountain (Joshua 16:1-2), or it was an actually
House of God. We learn that Prophets have always received their keys in
these places (2 Kings 2:2). It is the place in which certain covenants
have been done. These places have always been
consecrated (Gen 28:19). To make a long story and mountains of
scriptural evidence short, we have Temples on the earth today, which are
these same places. We do the same covenants in them as they did in
ancient times, and we have prophets in the same manner.
We have the authority and power of God on the earth today, and the
restored Church has that same authority, and does not deny that same
power of ancient times.
God truly is the same yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. Even though there my be super minor differences,
The Church of Jesus Christ is on the Earth today, with the same path
towards happiness. However, to have hope in this restored gospel is
good, but we are asked to have faith. Faith is action, and that means
doing and performing these covenants, and following
commandments. It is our job to act in faith and study, and learn of our
purpose, which are these covenants. What does the sacrament really mean?
Why is baptism by full immersion that important? Why do we need to be
sealed in the temple? How do I continually
receive Eternal life? etc. I encourage/ challenge all of you who read
this to please learn more and try and understand the meanings of these
covenants that we do, because I know it has helped me! Hoped that makes
sense of what I am trying to get across.
Love you all
ne iubesc pe noi cel mai mult in tot pamant
glumesc
tee hee
Varstnicul Stanfield
