16 Good Men

Well for my last blog I am gonna blog about my companions that I have had on my mission and what I have learned from them.

MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER:

(Me and my companions in the MTC)

ELDER JAKE STEWART

December 30th, 2009 - January 20th, 2010

How to be humble and fun-loving

ELDER MITCH DAVIS

December 30th, 2009 - January 20th, 2010

How to be diligent in everything I do

LANDER 2ND WARD AND WIND RIVER BRANCH:

ELDER BRANDON GRIFFETH

January 20th, 2010 - March 2nd, 2010
He taught me everything I needed to know to be a good missionary.

ELDER AUSTIN GOFF

March 3rd, 2010 - April 11th, 2010
How to have fun while still working hard and doing service.

TOWNSEND WARD, WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS AND HARLOWTON BRANCHES:

ELDER MICHAEL LANHAM

April 12th, 2010 - May 24th, 2010
How to listen and act on the promptings of the spirit

ELDER JEFF ELMORE

May 25th, 2010 - July 6th, 2010
How to keep my personality while still working

ELDER DUSTIN NEILSON

July 7th, 2010 - August 16th, 2010
How to be a better example by being more exact

ELDER TYLER MOWER

August 16th, 2010 - September 27th, 2010
How to work with members

MISSOULA 1ST WARD:

ELDER ZACH NUTTALL

September 27th, 2010 - December 21st, 2010
How to be happy in situations that don't seem good (aka Crazy People in the Zoo)

ELDER ALEX HOLYOAK

October 22nd, 2010 - October 29th, 2010
How to smile through everything

ELDER DAVID MALONEY

December 22nd, 2010 - February 1st, 2011
How to let my companion talk

ELDER AARON MOYA

February 1st, 2011 - March 14th, 2011
How to honest with myself

COLUMBIA FALLS 1ST AND 2ND WARDS:

ELDER MATT PROSSER

March 14th, 2011 - July 19th, 2011
How to have Christlike love and pure charity for everyone

ELDER SCOTT WILKINS

July 19th, 2011 - August 30th, 2011
How to mesh two very different personalities for the greater good

HAWTHORNE AND SHEPHERD WARDS:

ELDER ELDEN HAYMORE

August 30th, 2011 - November 22nd, 2011
How to be genuine and real to everyone

ELDER MATT LEE

November 22nd, 2011 - December 29th, 2011
How to work, work, work, and most importantly work! How to joke around but still work my hardest!

I know this is about three months late. but in these months I have taken parts of what I learned from each companion and have been able to apply them in my life. I now more than ever before appreciate all that my companions have done for me. 

Hole 8: The Trifecta To a Happier Life!!!!!!

So something that my companion and I have been talking about a lot especially as we get closer to this Christmas season is that the easiest way to get closer to Christ is to do the trifecta of all commitments: Pray, Study the Scriptures, and attend church. I thought about Golf, how in golf there are three things that if mastered will make you a so much better golfer: the long game, the short game, and putting. So I decided for Hole 8 I would relate the two sets. So we will start by looking at the long game, prayer.

In golf, the long game is where the most strokes are used normally because you have 400+ yards to the green. So this is where practicing your drive will help you more than anything. The drive is a very different swing and so it is the toughest. Sometimes it is also the toughest to pray. Prayer seems like such a simple act, but when applied it can be very difficult. The Bible Dictionary says this about prayer, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship." So it is not as hard as we think!!! God wants us to pray to Him. He loves us and will answer us!

The short game is the strokes that happen within about 100 yards of the hole. If perfected, it can give any golfer's game a big boost. The Sabbath day is that boost in our lives. The Lord commanded that we honor His day and keep it holy. By going to church on Sunday and remembering the Lord on His day, you are doing that, and because of it you can expect to have your spiritual life recharged to help you "more fully keep yourself unspotted from the world" in the upcoming week(D&C 59:9).


Then you have putting. A good putter is a good golfer. But it takes repetition to master this element of the game. Just like that, the scriptures are sometimes tough to understand because the lingo is a little different or you don't quite get the background of what's being said. But, just like learning how to aim and adjust to hills on the putting green, so also you must learn by repetition the background and context of the scriptures. The best way to do this is to do it everyday. Consistency and prayer, inviting the Spirit into your study, will build more bridges in your understanding of the gospel than anything else. 


Using this trifecta to a happy life, you will find yourself closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ than you ever have before. You can truly say as was said of the Nephites of Old, "there could not be a ^ehappier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God" (4 Nephi 1:16).




MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! MAY YOU BE HAPPIER THIS HOLIDAY SEASON AS YOU APPLY THESE THINGS!!!

Hole 7: the importance of the golf glove.

So you are just doing what you do best. You have stepped up to tee off at number 6. A long par five. You grab your driver, a ball, and a tee. You forget one key thing: your golf glove. you take a few shots an your hand begins to sting. what has happened? You look at your hand and you have a massive blister in your left hand, The hand you would normally wear the golf glove on. Ouch! The pain affects your game the rest of the time until you get to the cart after the hole is over an you slip back into the comfort of your golf glove.

Likewise Heavenly Father has given you something to help you avoid pain and to help you overcome pain when it comes: The Holy ghost. In John 14:26-27, the Savior tells of the Holy Ghost's comforting power when he says, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." The Holy Ghost will bring us peace and bring us comfort to endure the rest of this life just as the golf glove allows us to finish the rest of the game despite the blisters that come.

Hole 6: The Green

Putting is the hardest part of golf in my opinion. It is the thing that has cost many of the greats in golf many titles. To be honest it is what is keeping me in the 100s and not the 90s. The reason a putt is so difficult is because of the swing that you use when you are putting. It is a pendulum swing that if it is not right the ball could either roll to far or get headed and not go far enough. It is the worst feeling when your ball doesn't go where you want it to. So just like putting and the pendulum swing, our lives are made more accurate when we pray. As we pray the Lord allows us to learn his will for us. He loves us and wants to hear from us.

Hole 5: The Short Game, Par 4, 280 yds.

So at this point you have your drive down. You are sitting pretty good in the middle of the fairway looking at about 50 yards to go to the hole. Every golfer knows this stretch is one of the most important in golf. Pros pay through the roof for trainers who can help them get more accurate in close range.  In fact, all great pros make it count in the short game. In order to master the short game you need to master the chip shot, the pitch shot, the sand shot and the putt.  If you can do that, you will see your your ball on the green sooner. And your score will drastically improve.

Similarly in life, the small swings make all th difference. As we do the little things we can grow spiritually to a level that we can't understand right now. In Alma 37, Alma testifies to Helaman that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

So that is the big secret. Small things like reading your scriptures and praying make all the difference. As we do the small things in our lives, the lord will bless us with great things. Most people believe that God will strike them with lightning to reveal truth to them, but God proves time and time again that he will testify by the still, small voice.  So here's the big secret! Do the small thing by reading the Book of Mormon. And see if you feel the truh of the book! Do The Small Thing!!!! Click Here!!!!!

Hole 4: Par 4, 340 yds.

So you reached hole 4. at this point, you are used to the course and you are used to your swing. This about when the identity crisis sets in. You realize that based on your score you are just an ordinary joe-schmoe golfer. identity crisis is a very real issue for the human race. We all want to know who we are and who we have the potential of becoming. but many times in the mundane holes of the course of life we lose sight of our potential. I think about many of the movie of the day. One in particular, Shrek, is about an ogre who over the years has been content with the label he has received and is content that he is alone. He doesn't recognize his identity crisis until he meets an over-talkative donkey. It is there that we learn of Shrek's struggle with self. Donkey doesn't see Shrek how the world sees him. Donkey wants Shrek to be happy. Donkey tries throughout the movie to help Shrek see his full potential.

This identity crisis is similar to our own. Only our Savior Jesus Christ plays the role of donkey in our struggle for self. Paul in the New Testament tells us about our potential with Christ in Romans 8:16-17, which read, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Because we are children of our heavenly Father we have the potential to become like him. but we need to realize the potential of the Gospel in our lives. That's why Christ suffered and died for us and rose again for us. Because he wants to help us realize our potential. I testify that we are sons and daughters of God and that he is our Father. I know that if we are faithful in our lives that we will learn how to become like him.

Hole #3: Par 3, 115 yards.

In Golf, most golfers know how rare it is to get a hole in one. The lucrative eagle on a par 3 hole is much sought after. The average golfer has odds of 12,500 to 1 of making a hole in one. So as you can see, the odds are stacked against you. but we do know that it does happen. Many pro have made holes in one.  So there must be something that makes golfers more likely to get holes-in-one. Experience. Every time a golfer plays and practices and works on his accuracy, He grows more and more likely to make the hole in one.                

Similarly in our lives we need to learn how to identify the prompting of the Spirit and to act upon them. It isn't easy to recognize the things that come from the Spirit verses our thoughts. in Moroni 7:13-17 we learn, "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil. For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him."

I testify that as we practice recognizing the promptings of the Holy ghost and acting on them we will be more likely to respond to a promptings. while promptings aren't as rare as holes-in-one, it is harder to take an opportunity to act on a prompting from the Spirit.