Learn To Trust Others Around You, Even If They're A Donkey

Learn To Trust Others Around You, Even If They're A Donkey-
As the children of Israel were journeying through the wilderness they came to a resting spot near the land of Moab. The king of Moab, Balak, was afraid of the children of Israel so he sent princes out to persuade the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites and protect the land of Moab. As Balaam contemplated what he should do he sought God for guidance through prayer. God told him "Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed."(Num. 22:12) When Balaam woke in the morning he told the princes that the Lord had warned him not to go with them. The princes returnd to Balak and told him what Balaam had said. Despite this Balak was persistent and sent more honorable princes to convince Balaam to journey with them to Moab and to curse the Israelites. They also offered him great riches for doing so. Balaam prayed once again to God to know what to do. The Lord again told him not to go, but this time Balaam did not listen.

Balaam and his donkey

    As he awoke in the morning he saddled up his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. God was upset with Balaam and his actions so He placed an angel in the way of the path to Moab. When Balaam and his donkey came to the angel the donkey saw the angel and turned and ran into a field. Balaam, not being able to see the angel, rebuked the donkey. Again they headed down the path and the angel was on the path again and the donkey, seeing the angel again, ran off again. Now a third time they journeyed down the path and the donkey saw the angel and fell down. Balaam, being very frustrated and angry, began to beat the donkey and the Lord caused the donkey's mouth to be open and the donkey spoke to Balaam saying, "Am not I thine donkey, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day?" And Balaam's eyes were opened and he saw the angel. The angel said if it was not for your donkey who had seen me and stopped your journey to Moab I would have had to kill you.  Balaam was grateful to the donkey and God for sparing his life. Balaam prayed to the Lord for forgiveness and asked what he should do. God directed him as to what he should do and say in Moab instead of following Balak's command and he and the children of Israel were blessed for following God.

      Through this story of Balaam we learn that the Lord uses others in our path, or around us, to guide us. The Lord knows that we can't learn on our own so he places good parents, grandparents, Bishops, church leaders, teachers, coaches, and friends to help us. How many of us have had questions that we've asked God about and he's given us an answer through someone else. Many of these people around us and in our lives have experienced similar situations that we're going through. Instead of treating them like a donkey we need to open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to the help they are offering us. As we do so we will see that the Lord is guiding others to help us. As we walk down the path of life we are not alone. God is with us, our friends and our family are with us. The sooner we can accept their help down the path of life the better off we will be.

The Three Stones That Will Defeat The Goliaths Of Life

The Three Stones That Will Defeat The Goliaths Of Life-The classic Bible story of David vs. Goliath is one that most of us have heard before. David, the sheep herder, who is not only small but young, learns of big bad Philistine, Goliath, and how he's been picking on the Israelites. While the rest of Israel's army hangs back in fear of the giant Goliath David puts his trust in the Lord and a few stones saying "he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine" and "the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands." (1 Sam. 17:37,47) And the rest of the story is history! David after being mocked by Goliath uses his sling to throw a stone at Goliath and the stone kills him! The ultimate under dog story!
   So what can we learn from this story and David's stones? In our lives we will all have Goliaths. We will all be faced with trials and challenges that seem GIANT! They seem impossible to over come! We, as the Israelite army, see no point in fighting the fight any more and we want to give up and give in. There are three little "Spiritual Stones" that can help us to over come these great Giants of life.

PRAYER- A great way to overcome the Goliaths of Life is through prayer. Prayer is direct communication with our Heavenly Father. As we are going through the struggles of life He wants to hear about it. He wants us to express to Him what we are feeling and how He can help. Through our prayers and His spirit we can find comfort and guidance in our times of need.

Scripture Study- We can rely on the words of God and the Prophets in the scriptures to bring us comfort and knowledge. We can learn from others experiences and trials in the scriptures and see how God helped them through those and then apply them to our lives. This is also where God will sometimes reveal things to us for our lives as we read.  

Church- Through attending church each Sunday we can partake of the sacrament to have God's spirit with us through out the week. We can learn from the different lessons and talks that are shared, and find comfort and peace in knowing that we have a family at church who will be there to support and help us at all times.

I know as we use these "Spiritual Stones" and God's help we can overcome the Giant trials in our lives. It's a great blessing to have these stones by our side and if we will take them out and use them we will find the happiness that we seek as we defeat the Goliaths of Life. I can promise this to you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

To Watch a video on Prayer Click Here
To Learn read the scriptures Click Here
To Learn how to worship with us Click Here



Behind Enemy Lines: The Sons of Mosiah

Behind Enemy Lines: The Sons of Mosiah- When we hear of someone going behind enemy lines we think of the brave men and women of the the armed forces risking their lives to go into enemy territory to carry out a dangerous mission to protect their family, friends, and their country. Though the mission will be tough they know it is necessary to preserve freedom, even if it means their lives. While I commend these mighty men and women for their courage I want to tell you about another group of men willing to risk it all to save their brothers, even if it meant going behind enemy lines.
    The sons of a Nephite king, Mosiah, came to their father, after being converted (Mosiah 27), to tell him the desire of their hearts was to go among their relatives, the Lamanites, to bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God and stop the contention among the two groups of people (Mosiah 28:2).
   The Lamanites were known as a hardened, ferocious people who delighted in murdering, robbing, and plundering. They were a covetous people and idol worshipers who's hearts were set on anything but God.(Alma 17:14-15) Despite this "the cause for which the sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption." (Alma 17:16) As they departed they took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare these things unto them with the Lord's help.(Alma 17:12) They didn't go without their challenges and struggles though.
    Ammon, upon arrival to the land of Ishmael, was captured and put into prison (Alma 17:20). Aaron, while teaching in a synagogue had many try to contend with him and eventually in Middoni was thrown into prison where he suffered many trials (Alma 21). Despite this "the Lord began to bless them, insomuch that they brought many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, they did convince many of their sins, and of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct." (Alma 21:17)
     Ammon through service to a Lamanite king, King Lamoni, was able to teach about who God was. He was also able to teach and testify to him about the creation and the plan of redemption. Eventually the king granted Ammon the right to teach all in the land and many were baptized and they became a righteous people. (Alma ch.17-19)
    Aaron, after being freed from prison with the help of Ammon, went on to teach King Lamoni's father. By answering his questions about God and how to obtain eternal life he was able to bring knowledge to the king's whole household and they were all converted. The king then granted religious freedom to all the land. In total the sons of Mosiah were responsible in converting seven Lamanite lands, and brought thousands to the knowledge of God. "For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren." (Alma 23:7)
    Thus we see that the Lord is willing to help us accomplish great things no matter how dangerous, as long as we will trust in and follow His ways. Through the courage and dedication of the sons of Mosiah they were able to soften the hearts of many hardened lamanites and help them find joy in Christ. Let us all press on and follow the example in being diligent in whatever the Lord calls us to do even if it requires going behind enemy lines.
     Let Us All Press On

Montana Mormon Rugby Team Brings Home the Championship

Montana Mormon Rugby Team Brings Home the Championship

Mormon Times: MISSOULA, Mont. — Standing at the sacrament table Sunday morning, cousins Jackson and Collin Kanenwisher still appeared battered with scrapes, black eyes and sunburns. Jackson’s brother, Spencer, winced a bit while ushering at the chapel doors. Collin’s brother Beau was limping slightly as he passed the sacrament with the other deacons.
The day before, the Kanenwisher boys and their high school teammates clenched the Montana state title for club rugby in a fierce battle that ended 41 to 15. The Bitterroot Warriors, a majority of whom are LDS Church members, had a Cinderella season and are leaving the field with more than a trophy.
Organized two seasons ago, the Warriors' first players included the Kanenwisher cousins and their best friends, brothers Zander and Adam Smith. They recruited from each county high school but had the most success signing up church friends.
Boys from four LDS wards in four high schools joined the team and set the standard for leadership, language and commraderie.
Nick Recht, who will attend BYU-Idaho this fall, had an outstanding performance in the semi-finals of the round-robin tournament, held on the University of Montana rugby fields in Missoula. He scored one try off a kick from fly-half Collin Kanenwisher and then scored in the final minutes with a kick that toppled into a hard-fought victory over Kalispell 8 to 7.
“The championship was great, but I was really proud to beat Kalispell,” Recht said. “We were the only team to beat them earlier in the season, and they are a mean, dirty team. They really are bigger and better than us with a few players that were really hard to play against, so our goal as a team was to beat them in the second round. We weren’t really thinking beyond that.”
Recht was recruited to play with the boys he attends seminary and church with and discovered a love for the game that had a lot to do with his teammates.
“I just love the diversity of rugby,” he said. “You can kick, pass and tackle and then run in every position, but it’s the team itself that made it pretty fun.
“Our team captains Spencer and Zander always told us to ‘keep our heads’ and represent Bitterroot in a good way,” he said. “When things got intense, some of the players start playing pretty dirty in the rucks, but our captains didn’t want us to let it get to us or give in and play dirty back.”
Before every game, the Warriors grouped in a circle on the field for a prayer, “and that really made a difference,” said Recht.
Charlie West, a member of the team and not a member of the Mormon church, said praying before each game “brought us together as a team and helped us play better.”
He said playing with so many sets of brothers “made practices a lot more interesting.”
The five Fadely brothers from a Stevensville ward 25 miles north added strength and character to both the high school and junior high Warrior teams. Twins Mitchell and Marshall and their younger brothers Preston, Ethan and Jason also played rugby.
“We were all really exhausted playing three full games in one day,” said Mitchell Fadely. “But we were at church and excited to tell everyone. My dad even had it announced in priesthood meeting. I think our last match against Simms was the best we’ve ever played. We’ve really improved over the season, thanks to our coaches, and we were all in really good shape to still have enough energy to play three games and win.”
Freshman Beau Kanenwisher who played scrum-half scored a try during the first minutes of the championship game after a pass from his cousin Jackson.
“We’re naturally better because we’ve been playing (sports) together for so long,” he said. The rivalry between the younger brothers and the older brothers motivated them to make their captain brothers proud.
“They don’t act like it, but I know they’re proud of us and how we play,” said freshman Adam Smith, and then added a story when he was glad to have his brother back him up. “These massive guys on the other team were picking a fight with me, but then Zander and Jackson came flying in. It was pretty cool.”
Stephen Curdy, a Hamilton High School junior and Blodgett Canyon Ward priest, talked about his experiences in sacrament meeting the day after the championship. The assigned topic was integrity, and he had no problem finding symbolism from rugby experiences.
“In the finals we played Simms who play with a lot of sportsmanship and integrity,” he said. “They made the game a lot more enjoyable, and our team had the goal to play the same way.”
While fledgling teams across Montana competed during regular season, they were learning the game at the same time. The resulting matches were sometimes brutal with multiple fouls, both intentional and unintentional.
“At times it can be pretty hard to keep your standards when the other team is playing dirty and swearing,” said Mitchell Fadely. “But it’s important to keep your head and not play dirty or else your team is pretty much hated throughout the whole state.”
Twelve-year-old Preston Fadely joined the rugby club this year and loved playing with other Mormons from the valley. “They were great examples,” he said. “I’m definitely going to keep playing rugby because I love everything about it. I love the sportsmanship, I love the whole game and how it’s played.”
As for next season, when his brother Spencer steps down as captain, Jackson Kanenwisher said, “We’re excited but there’s no pressure.”
Added his cousin Collin, “We figured out how to play right and we’ll do it again.”
    For more stories from the Mormon Times including another Mormon rugby story Click Here

Though The Floods of Life Come Our Way, We Will Survive

Breaking News:
New Orleans, Louisiana: Flood Evacuation Reinstated for Louisiana's Butte Larose Area!
Salmon, Idaho:Idaho governor declares emergency from flooding 
Missoula, Montana:Western Montana rain keeps falling into already high rivers‎

Flooding has affected more than just one area in the U.S this spring and it may not be over yet. Due to the heavy snow pack melting and heavy rains falling many areas are finding themselves literally under water. As rivers rise and streets and basements flood we see how devastating these floods are to streets, homes, businesses, and even crops, as much of the damage will take months to dry out and fix.

    Just as these waterways and rivers are taking a beating from all these storms we too will face storms in our life. The Savior taught a parable about floods when he said:

     "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Matt. 7:24-27

     The Savior is teaching some valuable flood advice, or life flood insurance, in these verses of scripture but what does it mean to build upon a rock in our lives? The Prophet Helaman in the Book of Mormon understood this lesson about building upon a rock when he taught his sons. He said:

     And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

   The rock in our lives that we must build on is our Savior, Jesus Christ. When the devil sends those storms of life, when we find ourselves flooded, and wet, we will not wash away because of the foundational rock of Christ that we are built on. The Lord promises We Will Not Fall!

   In many flood zones people desire to get safely to higher ground. By following Christ and His teachings, and being a hearer and a doer of the word, we are not only built on that solid rock foundation but we are lifted to a higher plane of living. We no longer will find ourselves playing in the muddy flood water of the world but clean and dry from sin. As we do that we will be able to reach out a helping hand to those wading in the muddy flood water of life to lift them up to higher ground, encourage them to clean themselves, repent, and to start to build their lives on higher ground and the rock of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
            To read another Gospel view of Floods Click Here
Songs about Christ and Floods:
The Wise Man and the Foolish Man

O thou Rock of our salvation
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Guest Blogger: The Field is White. Are You Ready?: The (Super)Power of the Priesthood

Guest Blogger: Elder Holbrook author of the blog "The Field is White. Are You Ready?" is guest blogging on Davis' Daily Bread today. To check more of Elder Holbrook's blog Click here.

The (Super)Power of the Priesthood

A pretty common origin story for superheroes/villains is the "altering substance" story. Captain America is injected with superhuman serum, same with Bane; Bruce Banner is exposed to Gamma rays, in a like manner as the Fantastic Four; Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider; Doctor Connors and Norman Osbourn willingly use DNA enhancing chemicals; even rats and turtles in the New York sewers. It's see all throughout. It's a very simple way to explain how these supers got the way they were (another good way would be just "they're born with it" a la X-Men). Regular everyday people with regular everyday problems just like the ones you and I face are, because of these magical potions, turned into extraordinary people with powers to help them save the world. We can relate to their alter egos, and are enthralled by their secret identities. And all because of a little radiation? I could see that happening to me! (Disclaimer: The author of this blog in no way supports or encourages readers to expose themselves to radiation in any way, shape, or form for any reason, even to gain superpowers.) Run-of-the-mill folks, gaining amazing powers just through chance, running into something strange. Too bad it could never happen to us....
Or could it?

Recently, we've been helping a recent convert as he prepares himself to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. He's so excited to get it, and we're excited for him. It's made me really dwell on the priesthood and what, exactly, it is. I've heard it said before (because people know the best way to relate things to me is either soccer of superheroes) that the Priesthood is like a superpower. Sweet! It allows us to do so many amazing things. The Aaronic Priesthood gives us the authority to baptize and pass the sacrament, and with the Melchizedek Priesthood, we're able to confirm people and give them the Holy Ghost, as well as bless the sacrament, and give priesthood blessings. These things may not seem all that super, but if you consider the eternal significance of them, they truly are! The Priesthood is available to any worthy male member of the church, and brings great blessings to the holder and those around him. I've been blessed to have taken part in many blessings on my mission. It's amazing to feel the Spirit so strongly, or to feel the Lord working through you as you give words of comfort and counsel. The Priesthood comes the same way the Holy Ghost does, by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority. As you receive the Priesthood, you are given greater responsibilities, and people will expect more of you (hmmm... sound familiar?). We may not be able to climb walls, fly, have super strength, or anything like that, but our powers can still save the world!

More more The Field is White. Are You Ready? Click here

God and His Prophet: The Greatest Forecaster Around



God and His Prophet: The Greatest Forecaster Around-Do you find yourself day in and day out watching the weather report to see what weather you can expect and prepare for? Do you constantly find yourself living in the opposite weather than what was forecast and what you had prepared for? Take this week for instance, here in Montana the forecast called for rain showers every day of the week. On Saturday afternoon as my companion and I were walking around doing our missionary work it was 77 degrees, sunny and clear with not a cloud in the sky. It had been beautiful and sunny all week long!  We hadn't seen a drop of rain all week! Not quite what the weather forecast had called for now was it?  



   Along with false weather forecasts we also found ourselves talking to many people this last week about the prediction made by a group claiming that the world would end on May 21st. There had been billboards, signs, and a website dedicated to telling people about this prediction of the end of the world. While the world didn't end, hence why I'm able to write this blog on May 24th, we see that some took this prediction seriously and others not so much. This prediction, like the weather, caught people's attention, including the national news, but didn't come to pass. Now the purpose in me writing this isn't to come down or poke fun of the weather man or even those who predicted the end of the world but to show that the predictions and forecasts of men, and men alone, are never as accurate as the forecasts of God.

   All throughout the scriptures God makes his forecast known to us by means of the Prophet. God has said "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."D&C 1:38 We see that as God gives a forecast that that forecast ALWAYS comes to pass.
    The forecast of the Prophet on his own would have no credibility, but when it comes straight from God the truth is brought into the forecast. God told the Prophet Noah to warn the people that the earth would be flooded unless they changed their ways and repented. The people did not listen to Noah's forecast from God. In turn the rains came and the earth was flooded.

    How many of us pay attention to the weather forecast and predictions of man more than those from God through His Prophet? We need to pay attention and heed their counsel like we would the weather man's. As we prepare ourselves with a spiritual umbrella we will be better prepared to face the rain storms of life that have been and will be forecast by God.

To learn more about modern day Prophets and Apostles and their forecasts from God Click Here.