The Power of Scripture

Yesterday was not the best day of teaching that I have ever had. I went home just struggling with feeling a little inadequate and wondering if I was even getting across to the students.  Last night I was really praying that Heavenly Father would just let me know that I was doing ok and that the students were getting something out of class.  I asked Him to just help me know that somehow.

This morning we were studying 1 Nephi 20-22 and I felt like it went ok but definitely nothing spectacular (that's what I hope for is spectacular - that the students will feel a powerful spirit and feel the love and mercy of God each day).  I have a student in that class who comes across as a very happy and energetic kid.  I hadn't necessarily noticed anything wrong with him - he seemed to be his usual happy self.  However, he ended up kind of waiting around till everyone else left and he came up to me and said that he had been struggling with some depression and things the last little while and that he had forgotten that one of his favorite scriptures was in 1 Nephi 21:14 (quoting Isaiah 49:14): "But, behold, Zion hath said:  The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me - but he will show that he hath not."

This young man pulled his scriptures out and read this verse and just shared a sweet, simple testimony that the verse had reminded him that God had not forgotten him and that everything would be ok.  That was spectacular!  That is what I hope for...that the power of the scriptures will touch the hearts of these young men and women so that they will know that He will always be there and that they can rely on Him who has (as it says a couple verses later in 1 Nephi 21:16) graven them upon the palms of His hands.  He cannot forget us!  We are continually before Him...graven in His hands!  That knowledge is one of the most spectacular things that we can ever learn!  I was very grateful for this brief tender mercy from the Lord and it brings to mind part of a talk from Elder Holland from April 2006 General Conference that I will quote to finish off this post:

"My desire today is for all of us—not just those who are “poor in spirit” butall of us—to have more straightforward personal experience with the Savior’s example. Sometimes we seek heaven too obliquely, focusing on programs or history or the experience of others. Those are important but not as important as personal experience, true discipleship, and the strength that comes from experiencing firsthand the majesty of His touch.

Are you battling a demon of addiction—tobacco or drugs or gambling, or the pernicious contemporary plague of pornography? Is your marriage in trouble or your child in danger? Are you confused with gender identity or searching for self-esteem? Do you—or someone you love—face disease or depression or death? Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises. In that regard Alma’s testimony is my testimony: “I do know,” he says, “that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions.”¹³

This reliance upon the merciful nature of God is at the very center of the gospel Christ taught. I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair.¹⁴ From the beginning, trust in such help was to give us both a reason and a way to improve, an incentive to lay down our burdens and take up our salvation. There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, “beyond [his] own.”¹⁵ The Savior reminds us that He has “graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.”¹⁶Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way."

Trey

So tonight Trey had a mishap on the trampoline at my parents house and his neck and back we're hurting pretty bad. He was having a hard time breathing and was crying really hard because he said the pain was going up and down his back and neck. I had the impression that Heavenly Father wanted to teach us something with this experience and felt impressed to talk with Trey about the atonement and how the Savior has felt all our pains, sicknesses and sins and knows how to help us. I told him that God had the power to help him feel better. I asked him if he believed Heavenly Father and Jesus could help him and he responded in the affirmative, so we determined to pray together to ask for help.

I offered the prayer because he was still in a lot of pain. I asked Heavenly Father to help Trey to feel better and to give him the strength to bear his pain. Within a few minutes he had stopped crying and within the hour he was in the living room playing with his aunts and uncles again. 

On the way home I asked him what he learned about Heavenly Father and Jesus from what had happened that night and he responded that he had learned that they could help him with anything. I was so grateful for this brief experience for Trey to feel the love and power of God and that he could see how God had helped him.  I echo Trey's testimony that God can help us with anything and is ready to help us if we just ask.

Fishing

More MTC experiences

So I know that pretty much every post I write is about the MTC in some way, but I just have the most incredible experiences there and I can't keep them to myself, so here is another one for you all to enjoy. I think the reason I have such amazing experiences there is because it is while teaching there that I am turning outward and serving and loving others unconditionally more than almost any other time or place. Anyway, now to the experience itself. I guess it was really the whole day a couple Fridays or so ago, and part of that Thursday as well, so I'll tell some funny things (funny to me at least haha) that happened over the course of those two days to provide some background, and then I'll share the best part last. So, the district I am teaching right now had only been in the MTC for about a week and a half at the time this all happened, which means they just finished teaching their first "investigator" and were beginning to prepare to teach both myself and my co-teacher as investigators. In order to make the experience even more real for them, we decided to try something a little different Thursday night during the class that was set apart for them to begin preparing to teach their new investigators. Typically I would just make a video introducing myself as their investigator that my co-teacher would share during her shift, but this time around I thought I would try going into class dressed in my street clothes and introduce myself as the investigator in person. It was awesome. First off, the look on their faces when 'Brother Mansfield' walked in wearing "normal clothes" was hilarious. The shock on their faces was so obvious I almost couldn't stay in character. My co-teacher explained to them (in English) that I was a referral from a local member, but that I didn't speak English and so would need to introduce myself in Tagalog, and she would translate if needed. She then turned to me and told me (again, in Tagalog so that it was more real) to tell them a little bit about myself. It was such a cool experience. As I introduced myself to them, even though they didn't understand everything at first, it was so apparent how hard they were trying and how important I was to them as an investigator. Anyway, the next day was the funny part. Somehow, they got the impression Thursday night that since they were going to teach me as an investigator, I wouldn't be their teacher anymore, so when they saw me the next day in my dress clothes and name tag, they all got really excited suddenly, exclaiming over and over again how mad they had been that I wasn't their teacher anymore (or so they thought). I learned yet again how much we can often influence those around us without even realizing just how much we are doing so, especially in my case as a teacher at the MTC. Even over the course of a few days and/or weeks, I somehow develop an incredibly powerful bond with, and a deep love for, the missionaries I teach. It's a lot like the experience that Dad and us older boys had as missionaries when we loved those we taught almost the instant (if not before) we met and taught them. It truly is a miracle. One that you will soon experience for yourself, Cherish Destiny! I am so excited for you! You will be amazing1 (Already are, actually, but will become even more so). :)

Fishing with my sons

So I took Trey on his first river fishing trip on Saturday. We had an absolute blast! Trey was saying how much he enjoyed it because "it's just you and me Dad". We enjoyed several hours of fishing together at various spots on the river. He caught one pretty nice brown but mostly just enjoyed being there and being able to cast out and reel in on his own. Towards the end we were fishing near Vivian's park and I kept asking him if he was ready to go home and he said, "no dad, I could stay here fishing all day!" ... That's my boy! I was very proud of him for how quickly he learned how to do things on his own and how patient and diligent he was all morning.

On Labor Day (2 days later) I took Trenton to the river. We pulled up around 6:30 am and immediately after we got out of the car it started pouring rain. I asked him if he wanted to go home instead of getting drenched in the rain and he replied, no dad! I want to fish!" I was a proud father that day!

I had a little tender mercy as I fished with him that day. I had been praying silently that Heavenly Father would allow him to catch a fish (as I did with Trey when I took him but he caught one a little sooner in the trip) . We had gone for quite some time and despite all of his diligent efforts and at least 30 tree and bush snags on the side of the river he still hadn't caught one. Finally he hooked into a beautiful rainbow and he got it all the way in and then as I reached down to put it on the stringer it flipped off the hook and was gone! I was not a happy camper! But even worse I was just waiting for Trenton to respond to me the way I did to my father when he lost my prize fish in the river when I was younger. I remember getting so upset at my dad and blaming him for losing my fish. 

I was thinking, "here comes karma! Here comes the yelling!"  However, to my surprise Trenton responded to my apologies with an "it's OK Dad." It may sound small but I was and am so grateful for that response from Trenton. It gave me piece of mind and he demonstrated maturity well beyond his years (I don't know if I could even be that calm today if someone lost my fish). Just a few minutes later he was able to catch another and I just felt that The Lord was showing both of us that he knew us me loved us. It was a very sweet experience. I was so grateful to have the opportunity and privilege of being with both Trey and Trenton each on their own and to see their special, sweet, strong spirits. I am so grateful for the privilege of being a father and being blessed with the opportunity of being around these fine young men that The Lord has entrusted to Amber and myself. They are most certainly a chosen generation and I feel blessed to be a part of their lives and to see how The Lord is aware of them and shows his mercy and love to them and to all of us.