Weber Heights Stake Fireside 11-9-08

The speaker was Jack R. Christianson. He went to the student ward with one of our bishopric members when Brother Christianson went to Weber State University.

He stated, "I'm a missionary till I draw my very last breath."

He said that a friend of his that lives in California had a cross burnt on his lawn with a sign that said, "Here lives a Mormon bigot."

Eliminate contention from our lives.
3 Ne. 11: 29
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of ^acontention is not of me, but is of the ^bdevil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

2 Nephi 33:1
1 And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I ^amighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man ^bspeaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.

The Spirit carries messages unto the hearts, not into the hearts. It is our job to bring the message into our hearts.

He said to disagree without being disagreeable. He and his wife do not agree on many things including how to raise/discipline their children, but they love each other more than anything on earth.

It doesn't matter who's right. It only matters what's right.

3 Nephi 9:13
13 O all ye that are ^aspared because ye were more ^brighteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may ^cheal you?

If you want to know why God would let something like "that" happen then why don't you go ask him. If you stay mad at God you will never understand.

He admonished us to not get caught up in the hypocrisy of the members and let that get in the of us knowing the church is true. The key is not just to know it is true, but to be true to it.

John 6:66-69

66 ¶ From that time many of his ^adisciples went back, and ^bwalked no more with him.

67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the ^awords of eternal life.

69 And ^awe believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the ^bSon of the living God.

Brother Christenson said that he use to love to smell cigarette smoke in the chapel, because he felt that it meant someone was trying. What if all sins had a smell like drinking and smoking do? How would the chapel smell each week? We should not count people out since we don't know why they do what they do. The Lord does.

He recommended that we read Elders Eyring's and Nelson's conference talks (Our Hearts Knit as One and Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship) to gain some insight into responding to those that disagree with us because we are members of the Church. He also said to learn Church history, so that when people misquote it or sensationalize it we are not shaken.