Schönen guten Tag!!
This one is gonna be a bit fiery. And really really long. Bear with me :)
This week was awesome. As usual. Essen is bumping.
We are really starting to see the miracles rain down here in Essen. We've got our Area Book under control now, I finally know how to get around this city, and the work is going awesome.
Laila!! Laila is awesome. I'm not sure if I mentioned her already, but we finally got to meet with her again now that this Christmas holiday is over and schedules have settled down a bit. Laila moved here from Ghana a few years ago, and she is doing amazing. We've been able to teach her the first 3 lessons in 2 meetings, because she's just so full of excellent questions and is dying for answers. She told us yesterday that the night we found her, she had gone out to go shopping for some item, and hadn't been able to find it. She ended up walking to a different part of the area than normal which is where we talked to her. She had prayed just before leaving that she could talk to someone that could help her, because she had been in kinda a bad spot. We spoke with her and talked about God, and we happened to have a Book of Mormon in English on us, which we gave to her. She said she went home and read the first 12 chapters. She said she felt a great sense of peace and calm come over her and she just wanted to keep reading. Yesterday we taught the Doctrine of Christ and she gladly accepted a baptismal date for the 2nd of February! She is doing awesome!
Eric!! Eric is also awesome! We found him by going by on a 15 year old record in our Area Book! Not only does the lady still live there, we are able to teach her brother Eric and she said next week she wants to listen too! Eric moved here also from Ghana a few years ago. When we got there for our appointment, he came in, sat down, opened his Bible, looked at us, and said "Okay teach me". We went through the message of the Restoration with him, and he was asking hat questions. He repeated back what we had just taught to make sure he understood correctly, and loved it. At the end he gladly took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would love to "start his journey" to finding out if it's true and that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration. Then HE set a follow up appointment with US. He's serious! We are meeting again this Saturday and we are so excited.
The work here is going awesome. I love this work and I'm so grateful I get to be out here serving the Lord. He is too good :)
Aight buckle your seat belts.
I pray that this will help in some way. I pray that as you read this, you consider its truth. I don't know everything, and I may say some things you disagree with, but for the sake of learning something, please read and ponder first, then disagree after. I write this for the sake of everyone, in hopes I can shed some new light. I write this to everyone, lifelong members of the church, returned missionaries, young, old, those who are not members of the church, those who struggle within and without it, and those who are against it in any amount whether it be on one issue or many, big or small. This applies to everyone. And I'm only that bold, because I can quote a prophet of the Lord on it haha. This is heavily based on a talk by President Ezra Taft Benson, given in the April 1989 session of General Conference.
I want to talk about Pride today. This week in particular I saw a lot of different variations of pride in different kinds of people and all of them pained me deeply. "Pride is the universal sin, the great vice. Yes, pride is the universal sin, the great vice" (Benson). Every single person on this planet deals with pride every single day of their lives. The question is simply how they deal with it, whether for good or for evil, whether consciously or unconsciously.
What I hope to accomplish is to help you in some form recognize a way you personally deal with pride, so that you can overcome it. Yes I mean you. We all deal with and experience pride.
Pride is very often misunderstood. It is as slippery as it is deadly. "Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves... Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression. The proud are not easily taught. They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong" (Benson). Pride is THE stumbling block. It prevents growth and progress, and thereby many of the blessings of peace and strength that come of living and loving the gospel.
The two core attributes that begin everything are Pride, and it's counterpart Humility.
"The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means 'hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition'" (Benson).
"Pride sets men against one another and against God" (personal translation of the German index entry for pride).
"In the premortal council, it was pride that felled Lucifer, 'a son of the morning.'" (Benson)
Humility on the other hand, leads to "a love of God and of all men" (2 Nephi 31:20).
"43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.
"44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity" (Moroni 7:43-44).
Pride leads to all sin against God and against our fellow man, where Humility leads to Charity, that universal love for God and man.
What I want to do is identify a few actions or behaviors that are signs of pride. There are of course more than what I will say. But Motives and intentions are very tricky to single out and identify, especially about ourselves. Hopefully you will recognize one or more of these in yourself. I know I do. Every day. But hopefully recognizing it will help you begin working on it, so that you can be humble and filled with the love of God. These are a few ways you can exercise your personal agency to choose Humility instead of Pride.
The first is Ingratitude. Ingratitude to your fellow man, but especially to God.
"14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" (Deuteronomy 8:14).
"4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts" (Psalm 10:4).
Gratitude feeds Humility. It acknowledges the hand of God in our lives and our dependence on him. It draws our thoughts and attention to God in every aspect of our lives. It also doesn't come easy; if often takes a conscious choice and effort. It takes discipline. But it draws us closer to God and draws us closer to those around us when we exercise gratitude. When you experience feelings of entitlement or ingratitude, those are signs of pride. But they can be overcome by choosing to be grateful and humble.
The second is Contention. Contention comes in many forms. I would define contention as any thought, speech, or action that harms or degrades another person in any degree. "Arguments, fights, unrighteous dominion, generation gaps, divorces, spouse abuse, riots, and disturbances all fall into this category of pride" (Benson). Unrighteous Judgements also fall into this category of pride. This includes those "5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou" (Isaiah 65:5).
"Only by pride cometh contention" (Psalm 13:10). Pretty clear.
We are contentious in a lot of different ways all the time. For me at least it is a constant struggle to keep it in check. There are lots of thoughts that could be worded the exact same, where, when done in Humility are good, but when done with pride are bad. My rule of thumb is this: If a thoughts end result is someone else's degradation, it is prideful. If the thought is a commentary on another person in any way, specific person or not, and does not ACTIVELY fill you with love for them, it is prideful. Humility fosters love and patience for others. Complaining against others, no matter how justified you may feel, comes of pride.
This includes other prideful people. Think of the most prideful person you know. Now imagine them walking up to you and saying "You are really prideful. You need to get that in check". That natural response of defensiveness and anger IS pride. Contention against the prideful is not justified. A truly humble person, for instance Jesus Christ, would in this situation say something along the lines of, "Haha, I know - I'm working on it. Thanks for your concern. Do you have any specific insights on how I can work on my pride?". Contention cometh only by pride, and it is never justified.
The third is Disobedience. This one was explained very well by President Benson.
"Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position" (Benson).
So anytime we are disobedient to any Commandments, we are prideful. Wow sounds like that applies to every single person on this planet haha. Last I checked we were all imperfect. But where I might think "Well great that's not useful. That's not specific to me. What am I supposed to do with this?" this is actually one of the most powerful indicators. Because it's so clear and easy to fix. Want to increase your Humility? Be more Obedient. Don't know where to start? Don't know what the Commandments are? Keep first the commandment of daily prayer and scripture study. "Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do" (2 Nephi 32:3). As you strive to be more Obedient, you will "wax stronger and stronger in [your] Humility" (Helaman 3:35).
This last one applies to the 3 previous. It is Stagnation.
If you are not actively working against pride, actively working to improve yourself, actively seeking and looking to make as many good choices as possible every day, you are in danger of stagnation and of pride. This can be widespread or in one specific area. We can't work on everything at once, we have to prioritize, but if you are not specifically working on anything, that is pride.
You are trusting in your knowledge more than God's (see 2 Nephi 9:28-29). If you are not specifically aware and trying to be grateful, odds are you are not grateful. If you are not specifically aware and trying to be a peacemaker, odds are you are sometimes contentious. If you are not specifically aware and trying to be exactly Obedient, odds are there are corners you are cutting. This battle against pride is war each of us must fight at all times. Our natural default is Pride, not Humility. "19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19). The natural man is proud. It requires our righteous use of agency to overcome him and pride. So if you are unsure on whether any of those apply to you, don't be. Choose today, choose right now, not to be passive. Uncertainty means it ISN'T conscious. If it is conscious you will know instantly that you are in fact working on it. So don't be uncertain. Be active. You are in charge.
Even if your pride won't let you fully comprehend the amount that you experience pride, I pray that you will choose to work on Humility in some way. In whatever small way. That righteous exercise of Agency will start you on the path. You may not be strong enough to overcome all the pride right now. But beginning will allow Christ to step in. And while you may not be able to overcome it, he already has. He will pour his love and grace into your soul. He will fill and cleanse your inner vessel. "Christ will pour streams of cleansing water into our pitcher. At first it may come drop by drop, but as we seek, ask, and obey, it will come abundantly. This living water will begin to fill us, and brimming with His love, we can tip the pitcher of our soul and share its contents with others who thirst for healing, hope, and belonging" (Abiding in God and Repairing the Breach, Neill F. Marriott, October 2017 General Conference).
I pray this has helped in some way. I love and pray for you. I know that God lives and loves each of us. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to atone for and redeem us all. The Book of Mormon is true.
I love you all! I really do pray for you! You are awesome :)
Habt die beste Woche eures Lebens :)
Bis nächste Woche!
Elder Harps
Pictures:
Us sword fighting with wooden swords we bought at the Weihnachtsmarkt
Essen
Me standing in front of a cool Mural
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