Potential

Elder Albiston and Tibubos both went home last week and Elder Dawe and Elder McMillan are my new companions. When Elder Dawe walked into the apartment I swear he barely fit through the door. He's huge! He's going to play for the BYU football team when he gets back as a defensive end. Elder McMillan is way cool as well and for some reason reminds me of my good friend Merrit Capener, not sure why. This transfer will be a blast and we're going to have a lot of people to see. Good times ahead.

When I look at my companions and the rest of the missionaries in this mission I think about the awesome experiences that lie ahead everyone of us. We've been blessed with a unique set of experiences that will lead and guide us throughout life and help us become what God wants us to become. The question then arises in my mind "how do we reach our full potential in this life?"

Junior year of high school my teacher got up and explained that potential energy equals height times gravity times mass. If you put a bowling ball on top of a shelf you can estimate its energy when it hits the ground after rolling it off the shelf. So if it lands on your toe you can figure out why it hurts so much. As a side note the same teacher that taught this equation duct taped me to my chair when I forgot an equation that would be on the state-wide standardized test. I loved that class!

Similar to finding potential energy in an object I submit we can find an equation for our personal development. And it really involves our commitment to following Jesus Christ and His teachings. My thoughts are turned to the teachings of President Uchtdorf in the most recent general conference. "Being able to see ourselves clearly is essential to our spiritual growth and well-being". Throughout this lecture he stressed the importance of looking at our individual lives and honestly assessing them and then changing to become like Jesus Christ. When we do so we can reach our full stature. 

Sometimes it's hard though. We need to individually look into our own souls and assess the situation. Maybe we may feel like the Nephites when the "judgments of God did stare them in the face"(Helaman 4:23). But whatever the case we must look honestly (2 Corinthians 4: 2). And when we do so with humility Jesus will give us grace to overcome whatever it is (Ether 12:27). If we don't find anything to change we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). 

As we follow this pattern of improvement we change over months and years and become new. We look to God and come unto Christ to become perfected in Him (Moroni 10:32). 

I'll close with the words of Paul "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord"(2 Corinthians 3:18).

I love you