Sidewalks are for walking

Hi again from Peru!!

Still can't find my notes about everything I want to write about so I
just started making a new list, maybe I'll think of more things later
haha.

Every Monday here there's a guy that comes to be our instructor during
our gym time and I swear he's the South American equivalent of Chuck
Norris (my companion calls him the Terminator)!! He's crazy, I had a
nightmare about him last night.

We had the craziest experiences on Saturday! Every Saturday we go
proselyting in some other area of Lima all day and holy cow it was an
extremely humbling and eye opening experience. They bussed us all to
an area about 30 minutes from the CCM and the church we went to was
totally different than what I'm used to! There was a huge cement fence
around the entire building and we had to walk through a security gate
just to get into the chapel. There were bars on all the windows too
which was a little unsettling, it was definitely the cleanest building
around though. The first place we went to was super dirty and
depressing and I had a bad attitude going into the day, I had zero
faith towards success and didn't expect anything at all to happen, my
companion have had a hard time getting along, I still can't understand
his accent and it felt like he had no more patience for me. I was
tired and feeling alone and all that junk and for a while nothing at
all happened. I really was trying to feel better about the whole thing
and give myself a better attitude, I don't want to be responsible for
somebody not accepting the gospel someday because one time they saw a
missionary who wasn't happy about what they were teaching. It's also
super different to talk to actual people in Spanish than when you talk
to North Americans who know just as much Spanish as I do. We gave out
a few pamphlets and stuff but I still wasn't feeling it. After lunch
we went out to a different area and tried again, this time the first
guy we talked to rejected us flat out, telling us that he likes to
party and has no desire to change his lifestyle. I thought that was
pretty funny because he was like 70 years old, get a life dude! The
second person we talked to however was a different story. I can't say
I understood everything he was saying but I felt good about the whole
thing and towards the end I was able to offer him the Book of Mormon
and invite him to read it (all in Spanish). He was really receptive to
it and I dunno if anything will happen but it was still a great
experience. I also saw a Peruvian midget while we were tracting which
also made me happy.

Peru is full of crazy people! We hear sirens and honking like 24/7
right outside the walls, everybody is insane behind the wheel. I'm
pretty sure I've heard gunshots too, and there's a sniper tower on the
hill right next to us. It's also socially acceptable to throw litter
everywhere which I'm pretty sure is the reason the country is so
dirty, and it's not uncommon to see people going to the bathroom on
the sidewalks. Luckily I haven't seen any of that yet but I've only
been out in public three times, we'll see what the next 23 months
brings...

My companion and I are getting along a lot better which is really
awesome, I still can't understand him though. Oh well, such is life.
He'd never had peanut butter before so last week I bought some at
Tottus (Peruvian Walmart) and let him try it. He loved it! He talked
about it for two days haha. This week I found out he's never had a
Snack Pack before so I got him one, again he's a fan. When we were
walking back to the bus I offered him a sour gummy worm, he accepted
it, and a minute later he was laughing and crying and choking on it. I
didn't think they were sour at all but I guess South Americans can't
handle sour stuff at all.

My companion gave me a silly hat the other day, I guess it was a sort
of peace offering or something and it definitely helped our
companionship, who can say no to silly hats? I wear it often =)

I'm learning lots and I still have a month in the CCM! It's awesome. I
have to go but I hope to hear back from everyone! Snail mail really is
tough to wait for so email looks like the way to go.
fisher.john@myldsmail.net I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!

The Adventures of Elder Fisher and his Tie of Llamaness!

Ok flip I couldn´t find my little notebook that I keep notes in about
what I want to tell everyone about so this email may be pretty lame.
It´s the end of week 1 here in the Peru MTC (or CCM) and everything is
going pretty awesome! The amount of Spanish I´ve picked up just by
being around my latin companion all the time is crazy! He´s really
cool and we´re getting along pretty well, I can kind of understand him
now! He´s from Argentina so his accent is really strong and even some
of the natives here have a hard time understanding him. Oh well, I
guess if I was meant to be his companion it means the Lord trusts me
to figure it out haha. The food here is basically the same thing every
single day, rice rice rice. Like I said in my last letter I can´t eat
too much or it´ll make me constipated which I know everybody wants to
hear all about. I know an easy way to counteract that though, just
drink more diarrhea juice and it´ll all even out.

I figured out how to start a new paragraph! For anyone who didn´t read
my last letter this is coming from a spanish keyboard and I could not
for the life of me figure out the enter button, but with perseverance
all things are solvable=)

We went to the Lima Temple this morning, coolest thing ever! My
companion wasn't endowed yet so I got to be his escort which was super
legit. I was really nervous about everything being in Spanish but they
had it all figured out for us so it everything went down without a
hitch. To get to the temple we had to leave the CCM (I´m not exactly
sure what that stands for but everyone knows that´s what it´s called
so I just go along with it) and take the bus down the road a ways. Oh
my gosh that was quite an experience!! The busses are tiny and they
drive like crazy people!!! They just cram as many people as they can
onto one bus, sometimes the doorman type guy is on the outside of the
bus just holding on while we carreen down the road swerving around
cars pedestrians and other busses. These people are insane. However
the bus ride only cost 1 Sole for my companion and I which is only
about 27 or 28 cents so I guess it´s worth it. The temple was super
cool! It´s really small as far as temples go but it was really nice.

After we finished our session we went across the street and up this
really creepy green staircase to this little store where they sell
super cool scripture cases and ties and bags and stuff. I got some
sweet cases for my Spanish Bible and Book of Mormon triplet (or Libro
De Mormón if you prefer) and a rad tie with a llama on it. That´s
right everybody, I have a tie with a llama, go ahead and weep about it
I know you want to ;)

Right after that we went to this crazy store called Tottus which is
like a giant Peruvian Walmart. It was awesome! The junk food is super
cheap!! And they carried Sprite which was amazing since I thought I´d
have to go without for a couple years but I tell you what Sprite you
haven´t seen the last of me!!

Ugh I had so much more to talk about but I really can´t remember!! =(

I´ve been having kind of a hard time the last few days, not really
with homesickness much but that´s definitely a factor. I just feel
like I haven´t been able to feel the Spirit because I´ve been studying
Spanish so much and I still don´t understand enough. I asked my zone
leader Elder McCready and my Provo MTC companion Elder Zoller for a
priesthood blessing last night and they were more than happy to help
me out. It went well and I really felt the Spirit, but maybe that´s
just because the prayer was in English and I understood it haha, who
knows? I decided to go ahead and say at least one personal prayer a
day in English because I can´t always express my gratitude or really
any of my feelings in Spanish the way I´d like to be able to. When I
tried to pray I kept mixing Spanish phrases in and it was really
weird, I couldn´t focus on one language and thus didn´t really
accomlish much. This morning in the temple though I was able to pray
in Spanish better than I´ve ever done before which just goes to show
the power of the Lord and how He knows what´s up and can help us with
anything at all.

In the Provo MTC the big thing they pushed on everybody was obedience
with exactness which is really good because there are a lot of elders
who need that. Here though the big thing they stress is that we need
to have patience, patience with the language and our companions but
most of all ourselves. It´s really easy to get discouraged and down
and to want to give up and just throw up your hands and say "What the
heck am I doing here?" but that´s not what any of us came out here
for. There are people in Peru and other places in South America that
need this message, that need to hear that the gospel has been restored
and that we have prophets again on the earth. We've had this knowledge
in our lives and like it says in Alma 32:28 it is delicious to us, now
it's our turn to give others the chance to taste it. Satan is working
hard against members of the church and especially missionaries, it´s
like being in a giant game of tug of war between two forces that are
so much more powerful than any of us. I need to be here and I know it,
but I also need to stay focused and do what the Lord has placed before
me to do. Sometimes it feels like I'm not moving anywhere or
accomplishing anything at all but all I need to do is look back at who
I was even just one month ago today when I entered the Provo MTC and I
can see already how much I've learned and how different I am. This is
the business of bringing souls unto salvation and eternal happiness
and it's not easy, but like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7 with the Lord it is
possible. Not only that though, Jesus loves his servants and will do
what he can to help them, and that's not just limited to missionaries.

I don't have much time but I hope you all know that I´m so happy to be
here on a mission and to experience these ups and downs that will
eventually make me a whole new and better person. Please keep praying
for me and I know it will make a difference. Thank you all so much for
your love and support and I want you to know it's very much
appreciated. I love it here and I love that I learn more about our
purpose in this life with every passing day. Thanks again and God
speed =)

Elder Fisher

Let the Rice Fest Begin!

Hola from Peru!!! I`m typing on a Spanish computer and it`s making it really hard to type. It took me four minutes to type this far =/ ok i{m just going to throw proper punctuation out the window cuz it{s really slowing me down and i don{t have time to stress about it haha =) I AM IN PERU!!!! I{m having a hard time grasping it... the flights down here weren{t too bad, just really long haha. We flew from Salt Lake to Atlanta then to Lima, i tried to sleep most of the time to help it go by quicker, it worked. We had video screens on the seats in front of us and one of the things we could do was track our flight, it gave us readouts of the outside temp and how fast we were going and how far we{d gone and all kinds of cool stuff. there was also a map that showed exactly where we were. there was a two hour time difference which isn{t hard to get over at all, but it was still almost one am when we finally got through customs and immigration and all that jazz. there were a whole bunch of elders and even a few sisters in our group, probably about 40 altogether. they bussed us to the CCM (MTC) and holy cow it{s so ghetto here! we drove through some seriously sketchy neighborhoods and i was almost positive our bus was going to drive into a building more than once. eventually we got on to a real road and it was pretty smooth going from there. we drove right past the temple and i can{t wait to go inside! the CCM is less than five minutes from the temple and i think everyone here just walks over there on p days (wednesday). in the provo MTC everything is open and you can pretty much come and go anytime you want, there are no fences or anything but here the entire compound is bordered by 12 foot walls and the gate to get in looks like it could stand against a small nuclear assault. when we pulled up there were a whole bunch of american missionaries waiting for us wearing goofy peruvian hats and hoodies (i totally wanted some) and they were cheering for us and it was super bien. i got my stuff up to my room which was quite an ordeal, and eventually found the bathroom. there were a whole bunch of north americans in there having a chat about how much we{re going to love it here and telling us the low down on everything that might offend our companions (such as dropping your backpack) and we all had a nice long laugh about how much rice they eat here. We went to bed around 3 am and when i laid down my pillow was so lumpy i legitimately thought it was a practical joke from one of the other elders, no such luck. i found it more comfortable to sleep with no pillow at all haha. since they knew we had such a late flight they allowed us to sleep in until 8 which is a rare treat, however, there was some kind of mix up in my room assignment so instead of being with elders who are going to be here for another six weeks they{re all leaving in three, plus the bed i was assigned already had someone in it so i got to find another one. my companion woke me up at seven and said i was late and needed to hurry, and since i don{t speak spanish i had no idea what he was saying. someone else in our room had to let me know what was going on then explain to my new comp (elder monzòn) that it was ok just for today. so i got up and got dressed and didn{t shave (i had quite an impressive face for only two days of stubble i might add) and we went to breakfast. the CCM is really small but it{s fairly new so it{s really nice, i like it here. my new address is

Last Week in Provo!

Ok once again I have tons to say and not much time so we'll just dive right in

My visa is here! This means that I'm guaranteed to leave on Wednesday morning! We heard rumors that the MTC in Lima was full but we talked to the travel office and they said it is but they're still letting Peru missionaries go, just nobody else haha. We also heard that the first thing they do when we get there is buzz everybody's head!!! Ugh, I hate my hair that short =P

There's an Elder Crowther in my district who's from St George but he's been telling all the new missionaries that he's from New Zealand and talking with a fake accent that everybody totally buys. They asked him to speak Spanish and when he did they were like "Whoa you sound like you're from America when you speak Spanish!" He just laughed and said that he must be making progress. New missionaries, so gullible ;)

There's another elder on our floor whose room is right next to ours that's from Spain and he's going to serve in Greece which is SUPER cool!! He's studied German and French too and his English is amazing. Plus he said he's going to MIT for telenetworking or something amazing like that. There are some very cool people in the world.

The elders in our district have already started making bets on who'se going to be married first when we get back, by everyone elses vote I'm either number one or two, I'm not sure how I feel about that though haha. We're also taking bets on who can grow a Mexi Stache first, the first person who the teacher tells to shave wins hahaha, that just goes to show how mature we are.

Even though we're really not supposed to talk about music or movies or anything like that that isn't produced by the church or whatever there are still people who talk about it, since Harry Potter came out this week I've heard a lot of people whistling the HP theme haha. It also snowed finally!! Most of it melted but then it was super cold last night and now the sidewalks are covered in black ice. My companion is from So. Cal. where it never snows and he's seen snow like once before so he's totally geeking out over it, I have to keep telling him to watch out for the ice haha.

My biology teacher in high school has a twin brother which I knew before, but I just met him for the first time the other day. He works here! Can you believe it! What are the chances haha.

For the Tuesday night fireside we didn't get an apostle again, but we did get someone from the Seventy. His name is Keven W. Pearson and lemme just say that after he spoke I didn't care at all that the prophet didn't come haha. His talk was absolutely incredible, it was the most inpiring talk I have ever heard, General Conference included. I took more notes during his talk than I did during Elder Bednars. He spoke about a bunch of different things centering around missionary work but the thing that stuck out to me most as it did to a lot of other people was when he talked about our divine identity. We are here on missions not to put our life on hold and talk about Jesus for a while, we're here to throw away our old life and bring the souls of men unto eternal salvation. We are literally supposed to begin a new life, get rid of our own self image and who we thought we were and to become who we really are. Mortality induces amnesia, we knew almost everything before we came here and after we die we'll know even more. We are not who we think we are. During this talk I felt the Spirit so powerfully I wished there was a non member right in front of me so I could baptize them hahaha. The whole thing was just awesome and I truly feel that his talk was directed right at me. Another thing he said was that we're not out here to try and teach the gospel, we're out here to DO IT! He said, "'Trying' means I don't think I can do this, but I feel like I'm somehow morally obligated to give somewhat of an effort." And also that "Average is the enemy of excellence. There is not one average person in the Celestial Kingdom, not one." I think I can speak for everyone when I say that his words were just what we needed.

My companion and I got to go to the temple again this morning, it's always a great experience and the perfect way to start the day/week. I did an endowment session for a guy from Hungary who was born over 200 years ago. SWEET!!

My Spanish is really coming along, I'm getting to the point where when I pray I don't have to just say what I know how to say but more of what I want to say. We're also getting better at teaching the first few lessons and will start those in Spanish too very soon. It's not us though, we just pray and pray and pray for the Spirit and if we deserve it then He comes and teaches what we can't. I've felt the Spirit so often and so strongly the last few weeks it's been unreal. I'm so excited to see what else there is for me to learn and to go out and get my hands dirty spreading the Good News!
There's another elder here who plays the piano and he's so amazing with the hymns he plays he made me decide to start playing again when I get back haha, all I needed was the right inspiration.

Well my time is almost up and I have to go do my laundry now but I want you all to know that I love you and I love this gospel and I can't wait to start sharing it with people. Keep sending me your love on DearElder.com!! =)

Elder Fisher

Hey Everyone! My name is Brittany Thunhorst, and I have decided to upkeep a Blog for our Dear Elder John Fisher! :) I know, i know, this will be AWSM! :)

So here is the first Email that I have received, and I will do my best to update every time I get an Email! :)

ENJOY!


Ok I have a lot of things to share and limited time so I'm just going to jump right in! There are hand sanitizer dispensers EVERYWHERE here!! I counted one time when we went to lunch, from the time we left our room till we had our food in hand we passed 8 of them! Cool.

On Tuesday for the evening fireside Elder Bednar came! It was a super amazing talk on the difference between doctrines, principles, and applications and I definitely learned a lot, and at the end he used his apostolic witness and luckily I was able to write down pretty much the whole blessing. He said that as we are diligent and faithful in our studies here that the doctrines and principles of the Lord Jesus Christ will distill upon our hearts as the dews from heaven and they will bless our families for generations and that we will be able to help others to learn and to understand as well. HOW AWESOME!!!

I already have my travel plans!! This doesn't necessarily mean I have my visa though, however, I've learned that because of the way Peru gives out visas that we can still be in the country for up to six months without one. So that means even if I don't have my visa I'm pretty much guaranteed to be leaving on the 24th. WOOT!!

My teachers here are super awesome! One of them is from Ecuador and served here in Provo and he always has the funniest stories about everything! I've heard from lots of people that eating guinea pigs is pretty popular in South America and he confirmed that. It's pretty much only a delicacy but the species they eat is huge! Propably about the size of a large rat. He also told us there's a species that is the size of a large dog, even bigger than Bella! He showed us a picture and all I could think of were the ROUS's from the Princess Bride hahaha.

He also admonishes us to be really careful of what we say when speaking Spanish because if you don't say something just right it will always mean something completely gay or incredibly offensive and awful. Way to inspire confidence! ;)

My companion and I have both been struggling with illness and are both on the road to recovery, I had the opportunity to act as the voice as our district gave Elder Zoller (my comp.) a priesthood blessing. That was my first opportunity to do that and it was definitely a memorable moment. We've both been to the doctor and he loaded us up on drugs which also has contributed to our recovery haha. In the doctors office there's a picture on the wall of all the Winnie the Pooh characters wearing breathing masks and angry looks on their faces. They're standing by the side of a lake and Pooh is out front holding a stick and pushing a raft with Piglet on it away from them, and down below the picture it says "Swine Flu" hahaha. I about busted a gut the first time I saw it!

We only pray in Spanish now, it's almost becoming natural haha. We've been told to pray for the gift of tongues with every single prayer we say, and also to ask everyone at home to pray for us to recieve that blessing as well, so if it's not too much trouble would you all mind adding me to your prayers? It would be much appreciated =)

We had a great discussion on the Apostasy in class the other day and about the loss of priesthood authority, one of the things we were talking about a lot was the Catholic Church and all kinds of stuff that goes along with it. Our Ecuadorian teacher (Hermano Shulca) was born Catholic but his family converted when he was about 3 so he knows all about their church but grew up in ours. I knew this before but it was still really cool and empowering to talk about it, but since we have the true priesthood here on the earth, every single one of us has more authority than any royal leader in the world, even the youngest deacon has more authority than the pope, he can pass the sacrament, the pope can't. Chew on that for a little bit!!

There's an elder here who always wears this bright red scarf and one time he was right in front of us in the lunch line when somebody asked him about it. He said that his fiance made it for him. My comp and I just looked at each other like oh my gosh who is this guy! He's even wearing a ring on his left ring finger, NOT GOOD!!!

My branch president is pretty awesome and always takes time out of whatever we're doing to give us his 'teaching moments' as he calls them. He's even stopped us during the hymn to have us change stuff hahaha. He came to our residence hall one night wearing a fedora and a trenchcoat and he totally looked like a mobster. He's kind of got a bit of a gut so I also think he looks like the penguin from Batman hahaha.

We've all heard that being on a mission blesses our families and one elder in my district has a perfect example of that. He told us he has two brothers that aren't active in the church, one is an alcoholic and the other just got out of jail. We've been here less than two weeks and in that time both of his brothers have started going to church again, haven't had a drop of alcohol, and both found jobs already. He had the whole room in tears by the time he was finished with his story!! Truly a great example of what it means to be a missionary.

Mom I need more stuff!! The mission isn't at all what I expected so I didn't pack everything I might need haha. The really big box in my closet is the one with all my clothes in it, if you could send me a few more t shirts and some short socks I would love it! I think my green shoes are in there too. My tie rack should be hanging in the closet, could you send me the rest of my ties too? Minus the Christmas ones =)

Thank you so much for the slippers and the junk food! I'm loving it all =)

My time is almost up so I gotta wrap it up, I love you all and I'm so glad I could be here! I'm glad you're my family and I know that this is the best thing I could be doing for me and for you, and I also know that it's not just for me, that it really is for all the people out there that are looking for the truth, my testimony truly has grown enourmously and I am so happy to be out here doing what the Lord would have me do.


I love you all and pray for you every day!

Hi again! Imma be in Peru!!

It's been way too long since I've posted, I don't get online as much as I would like but that's ok! Life goes on =)

I got my mission call a few weeks ago!! I've been called to the Peru Arequipa Spanish speaking mission and I report to the Provo MTC on November 3rd!! I believe I will be there for three weeks, then fly to Lima where I will complete my training, another six weeks or so in the Peru MTC.

I don't know any Spanish, I took four years of German in high school! I know German is not a very common language in this part of the world, but I was still hoping to be called to a German speaking mission. However, the more I ponder on my call the more and more I come to realize that this is where I need to be, and I'm grateful for it=) Spanish will be a lot more practical and I'll be able to use it a lot more around here, and I know it's a relatively easy language to learn so I'm not worried about it in the least.

I'm super excited to go to Peru and to get to know the people and serve the Lord. I know this will greatly strengthen my testimony and my desire to serve Him, and I cannot wait! I know of a surety this will make me a better person and a better saint and I would not have it any other way. I'm also very much looking forward to entering the holy temple and recieving my endowments. This will be a huge asset in my endeavors to serve the Lord these next two years and I know it will be necessary to my success as a missionary.

Small post, big heart

I've been trying to figure out what I want to write about next and it just keeps driving me crazy! I couldn't think of anything amazing or even remotely good to talk about for any length of time. Then it hit me! I don't need to write a novel for every post like I did the first time! All I need is a small event or even just a passing thought to get me started. So that's what I'll do!

In the meantime I just found this song and I quite enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLZgaYTx9ek

Evolving horizons

My calling as a ward missionary is proving to be more difficult than I had originally anticipated. I knew it would never be a walk in the park but the more we accomplish the more and more I begin to see how much there really is. My view of the church has been altered of late. Do not misunderstand, my testimony has not been shaken, if anything it has been greatly strengthened.

Learning more about the church in any way is always a great blessing, and I'm very grateful for the opportunities and the technologies which allow us this luxury. General conference is probably the greatest illustration of this, as it allows millions of people everywhere in the world to simultaneously hear the council of the prophets. The internet and it's resources are also incredibly invaluable in regards to individual study.

I love my life right now and I'm so looking forward to serving a mission, I can't wait to learn how to teach and grow more effectively, and I can't wait to become a better person.

Things of my soul

I've committed myself to not hit the backspace key, whatever I say will be said. I've tried keeping journals and I do ok for a while but it never lasts. Hopefully this lasts longer! My mom was quite enthused by the idea of me starting a blog, she said it would be a great way to keep people updated on my mission (which is coming up, stay tuned) and even if nobody reads it I think it'll make me feel better just to say things that I feel like saying and throwing them out to the ether.

This weekend was conference and more than ever the Brethren know what we need to hear and they are not afraid to say it. I've been thinking a lot lately about missionary work and how we can teach those around us. My testimony has been greatly increased over the conference weekend but it is not even close to enough to keep my testimony in a pretty box to be looked at from time to time, I need to share it with the world! For two solid years that's all I will be doing and even when I get back I will continue to do so, hopefully without ceasing.

My ultimate goal is the same as every single other person's: to be happy! Lucky for me I know how to achieve it, and if I don't do what is necessary to attain true happiness the fault falls to no one but myself. Christ has shown us the way, He truly is the Light and the Life of the world. His light cuts through the mists of darkness to reveal the one and only path. We can look for happiness anywhere we please, but Christ has already decided where we will find it. We have in our possession everything we need to return to His presence, it is now entirely our decision whether we follow the path that has been revealed or fall away to forbidden paths and lose ourselves to Satan.

I have a lot to say but I don't always know how to say it. I hope as time goes on that I will be better able to articulate my thoughts sufficiently to organize them into comprehensible words that can be carried by this medium to those who wish to read them.

I love music and I want to learn to bear my testimony effectively through it. I want more than anything to inspire myself to do good continually, and hopefully to influence others to do good as well. I am so looking forward to serving a mission for the Lord. I know without a doubt that the work we pursue is right and true, and I want to increase my faith and trust in Him through selfless service. I know it will be a difficult challenge but without trials and difficulty our progress would be stagnant and absolutely nothing worthy would ever be accomplished. This is how I know I want to better myself and cut away all impurities in my soul to eventually be perfected in Christ, even though I know that cannot come to pass until the next life. The gospel makes me happy, even if I don't always remember it. This is where I need to be and I know that I am preparing to do what the Lord wishes me to do. There is power in that knowledge!

If you are not familiar with the teachings of the Book of Mormon, I would strongly encourage you to acquire a copy and study it. I know that if you truly wish to learn from it you will receive a witness of Christ and that through prayer and His holy spirit you can and will come to know of the truth of the things written there for yourself.

Time is not our friend, how much longer do we really have? As is written in Alma, we do not have time to procrastinate our repentance. The gospel of Christ is so simple, there are only four basic principles we must follow: To have faith in Christ, to repent and be baptized by the proper authority, to keep the commandments, and to endure to the end. If you think about it, how far is the end anyway? The saddest words ever said or written are the words, "what might have been?" PLEASE!! There is no time to waste! There is so much work to be done before the night is ushered in! Do not leave yourself with regrets.

Last conference President Uchtdorf gave a talk titled 'The Love of God' and in it he stated that from the time of Adam until now, the deepest miseries have come from the love of the wrong things, and the most profound and lasting joys come from the love of good things, and that the greatest of all good things is God. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart might mind and strength, and if we do this everything else will fall into place. Our lives will be filled with joy and we will have peace in our hearts, even in a world that is increasingly vicious and restless. Nothing can make us happier than following Christ, we as a nation and as God's children would do well to remember that.