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    <title>Blog on Thoughts of a Latter-Day Saint</title>
    <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/</link>
    <description>Recent content in Blog on Thoughts of a Latter-Day Saint</description>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2025 Wesley Thacker</copyright>
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    <item>
      <title>Thoughts with Coronavirus</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/thoughts-with-coronavirus/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/thoughts-with-coronavirus/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hey there! It’s been a while, I know, but I was just going through some older drafts I had saved and thought I’d post one. This was written on March 20, 2020, just a few days before I came home from my mission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello all. I&amp;rsquo;m here with another post, apart from my weekly emails you all were so used to. I have just been thinking about these effects of Coronavirus and missionaries and just the overall state of the world right now.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 12 - Stay Over There, No Soliciting</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-12/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-12/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;You know you&amp;rsquo;re doing something right when you get yelled at for doing that thing. Welcome back to the weekly, the only thing at this point that won&amp;rsquo;t give you Coronavirus (probably).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunes was wack. Usually, I talk only about what happened after p-day ended but it was really wack. So first, missionaries get a certain amount of money for two weeks of food. We usually split this pretty evenly and buy the things we need every Monday. However, we were told by our mission president to spend it all today. He advised us to buy a two week supply of food in the event that people are quarantined. Okay, so we did.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 12 Bonus</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-12-bonus/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-12-bonus/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;So, I purposefully left out some details in my weekly, as I&amp;rsquo;m sure you figured out. I&amp;rsquo;ll cut straight to the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those that don&amp;rsquo;t know, I&amp;rsquo;m now home. So what lead to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, over the course of my time here in the mission field, I&amp;rsquo;ve been meeting with a counselor to help with some emotional concerns that I had beginning this new adventure. Well, the other day, I received a call from my mission president and he wanted to know how I was doing with all that has been going on. I told him that I was doing fine but as we got to talking about all that has been happening, he expressed concern for my well being. He then asked me to call my parents and counsel with them about it. So I did, and I figured out in that call that it might be best for me to come home during this time for the emotional support that I need. I will still be seeing a counselor about these issues while I am here at home.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 11 - Caught with Corona...virus!</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-11/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-11/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Well, well, well. Look what the cat drug in. It&amp;rsquo;s my weekly! Here&amp;rsquo;s a secret: the weekly email is like a delicate dish, you have your specific ingredients that need to all be cooked to perfection. Different temperatures, different times, you get the idea. Well, my dish involves throwing it all together at once, messing it up with a spatula (aka slap whacker), nuking it in the microwave for safety, and seeing what the end result is. And look at that, you&amp;rsquo;re reading it.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>In-Field Week 10 - Mistaken Identity</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-10/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-10/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Pssst! Hey, you! Yeah, you! You there reading this. Guess what? It&amp;rsquo;s that time of the week. Welcome back to the weekly, where I (sometimes briefly) recap the things that happened during the week. This week was&amp;hellip;interesting, as most weeks here in the mission field are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunes was a weird p-day. We had a lesson at 3pm so we stopped our p-day for these lessons. We taught Yuli, and taught a guy named Nico who was quite interested. Then we met a lady who is not having a good time and was so glad to see us. That&amp;rsquo;s all I&amp;rsquo;m going to say on that matter.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>In-Field Week 9 - The Scandal, the Dog, and the Zone Conference</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-9/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-9/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s not everyday you have to try to run with a booted leg (don&amp;rsquo;t tell my doctor. Also, more on that later). Welcome back to the email. I know you love to see this notification pop up on Mondays. It&amp;rsquo;s a joy writing these and getting to tell people about my week! This one&amp;rsquo;s not as long as last week&amp;rsquo;s (thank goodness, am I right?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunes, not a lot happened. We full sent it up to Bridge City after p-day ended and found a potential investigator.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>In-Field Week 8 - An Attack, a Reference, some Disgust, and a Baptism</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-8/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-8/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Fun fact: Port Arthur is blowing up&amp;hellip;with investigators! Welcome to the email, the one I send every week even though it always feels like I just sent one yesterday. This weeks is a large one, so grab some candy, lean back in that chair you&amp;rsquo;re sitting in, and get ready for this.&#xA;Before I start off this email, I&amp;rsquo;ve noticed something being down here in Port Arthur. According to literally any Spanish missionary that has served here, Port Arthur has not really been a place to find new investigators. It&amp;rsquo;s usually kind of a stale area. But since I&amp;rsquo;ve arrived, we&amp;rsquo;ve completely blown up with new people we&amp;rsquo;re teaching, new investigators, references from place you&amp;rsquo;d never expect (more on that later) and all the sort! I don&amp;rsquo;t know if it&amp;rsquo;s something I did or the area is just ready, but all of Port Arthur is suddenly interested. Let&amp;rsquo;s see what happened this week.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 7 - Banishment</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-7/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 17 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-7/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Goodness, I just barely wrote an email, did I not? Anyway, welcome to Port Arthur, banishment for Spanish Elders! (It&amp;rsquo;s considered banishment because it&amp;rsquo;s the farthest you can get from the mission office as a Spanish Elder. Lousiana doesn&amp;rsquo;t have any Spanish areas.) My new companion is Elder Trent and he&amp;rsquo;s a homie :). It felt like this week was crazy fast so things are a bit hard to remember. Also, this week we had at least one miracle every single day! It&amp;rsquo;s been lit down here in Port Arthur. But I do miss Broadway. Broadway will always be my home here in the mission.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>In-Field Week 6 - Transfers and Miracles</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-6/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-6/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;You thought I wouldn&amp;rsquo;t send an email this week? Psych! Also, didn&amp;rsquo;t I just write one? It sure feels like it.&#xA;It&amp;rsquo;s the week of transfers so our p-day gets moved to Tuesdays (this is only for the week of transfers, so every 6 weeks. The rest of the time, p-day is Monday). A little confusing, I know, but let&amp;rsquo;s not dwell on the past too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday we met with a part member family and it was pretty good. There are some things going on that I cannot tell about because of privacy but we&amp;rsquo;re hoping to get those resolved and start progressing.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>In-Field Week 5 - Lights, Spirit, Baptism!</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-5/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-5/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Cómo está? Que pasó? Buckle up for this weeks email. We had lots happen so hang on for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday we had some awesome plans for the day, everything was going great&amp;hellip;then my other foot (the one not booted, remember that) decided it wanted some attention and reared its ugly, painful monster for about two hours. We got put under house arrest for the day by the medical advisor because of it.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>In-Field Week 4 - A Series of Unfortunate Events</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-4/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-4/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome everyone to the companionship that can&amp;rsquo;t stop breaking themselves. This week was, unfortunately, another rough week filled with homesickness among other things. But that&amp;rsquo;s beside the point. What&amp;rsquo;s happened?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday we had two pretty good contacts. One was with a woman named Juanita. She had some groceries that we helped carry into her apartment. Then we talked about her family and God for about thirty minutes. Sadly, we had to refer her to the English Elders but she seemed really interested in the church.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 3 - Bilingual?</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-3/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-3/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;First week out of the hospital! We&amp;rsquo;re not confined to a prison cell anymore! As awesome as that&amp;rsquo;s been, it&amp;rsquo;s been a rough week for me. Homesickness has finally set in and it&amp;rsquo;s been quite difficult. And I&amp;rsquo;ve started getting dizzy spells! Such fun. So&amp;hellip;what happened after we escaped from the hospital?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday after the hospital, the mission office had a car that needed to be taken down to an area close to ours so we did. GPS kept trying to take us through a tunnel that was closed because of an accident. So we had to keep rerouting back to different routes. Finally dropped the car off and did our shopping for the week (well, what you can do when you haven&amp;rsquo;t been in your apartment for five days). That was a very short P-day.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 2 - Welcome to the Hospital</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-2/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-2/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome everyone! It&amp;rsquo;s that time again where I hit you all with another email! This week has been an adventure to say the least. So, I would like to welcome everyone&amp;hellip;to the hospital! Don&amp;rsquo;t worry, I&amp;rsquo;m fine, but my companion was not. So what happened? Well, I&amp;rsquo;ll tell you but first, we have to see what lead up to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday was P-day so I have nothing to write about really.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>In-Field Week 1 - It Doesn&#39;t Kill</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-1/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-field-week-1/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome to Texas, where traffic laws actually exist and our house doesn&amp;rsquo;t constantly smell like the sewer! I hope everyone has had a great week. My P-days are now on Monday! Yay! There&amp;rsquo;s been a lot happen since you last read something from me so let&amp;rsquo;s start. However, we&amp;rsquo;re going back a little in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monday (part 2) starts with landing in Houston. It was nice to be back in the states. Customs, whatnot and a baggage claim later, we met our mission president. President Hewlett is a super nice, cool guy. All you gotta do is follow the rules and you&amp;rsquo;ll be fine (you know, as missionaries do siempre (always)).&#xA;We were taken to President Hewlett&amp;rsquo;s home where we had a lovely dinner prepared by his wife. Interviews went well then us Elders took off to the Assistants to the President&amp;rsquo;s apartment. It was an interesting night cramming 13 elders into an apartment.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>CCM Week 7 - Showtime</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-7/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-7/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hola hermano&amp;rsquo;s y hermana&amp;rsquo;s! ¿Cómo están? Yo estoy muy bien! Uno Navidad en el pasado, uno más en el campo. &lt;em&gt;(Hello brothers and sisters. How are you all? I am very good! One Christmas in the past, one more in the field.)&lt;/em&gt; I&amp;rsquo;m have no idea when I&amp;rsquo;ll send this out so Happy New Year? Yo no se. Anyhow, onto the&amp;hellip;adventures? Whatever this is called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday was Christmas!!! Christmas in the CCM is kinda wack. I kinda forgot that it was Christmas; I&amp;rsquo;m so used to seeing snow on the ground and I&amp;rsquo;m in the CCM in a short sleeve shirt. One of these things just doesn&amp;rsquo;t belong here.&#xA;We started out the day with Christmas songs! Then we went to our classroom to do a district gift exchange when we were met with an unexpected surprise. Our desks were all arranged in a circle and all of them had a special gift on them. I got another sock tie and I love it! We couldn&amp;rsquo;t figure out who it was at the time, but we figured it out eventually. Called home, then we moved to a devotional broadcast from the Provo MTC with D. Todd Christofferson. That was pretty epic.&#xA;Later, we had pinatas! The pinatas here all had seven points on them, but those were really easy to whack off so when that would happen, we&amp;rsquo;d have a new pinata hat! There was also lots of Mexican candy in them.&#xA;Next was a service project. We assembled drawstring bags full of basic essentials for people in need. We assembled some of those then we had to move them assembly line style to another building. We kept getting stopped because the beginning of the line wouldn&amp;rsquo;t be ready so it rook a bit longer than expected but that&amp;rsquo;s all good.&#xA;Finally, we watched The Testament. If you haven&amp;rsquo;t seen it, I recommend you do. I&amp;rsquo;ve seen it before, I don&amp;rsquo;t remember where though. Mysteries of the CCM.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>CCM Week 6 - Hallelujah, It&#39;s the Final Countdown (of the CCM)</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-6/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-6/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Merry Christmas from the CCM! It&amp;rsquo;s not too often you hear that from a missionary! Wait, hold on. Someone put the brakes on this train. I&amp;rsquo;m less than five days away from Texas. The CCM has felt ridiculously long but now that we&amp;rsquo;re here at the end, it&amp;rsquo;s felt like barely a week. Nonetheless, the next time you hear from me will be from Texas and, more than likely, will be a new year! I&amp;rsquo;m so excited for the field. While my language is broken at best, I&amp;rsquo;m ready to share the message of the gospel with the people of Texas. Now, enough about wishing to be in Texas, let&amp;rsquo;s see what happened my last full week in the CCM.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>CCM Week 5 - Embark ye in the Service of God / God Be with You Till We Meet Again</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-5/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-5/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Is that what I think it is? P-Day again already? Feels like just yesterday I sent a massive email to you all. Nonetheless, hello and welcome to week 5 of the CCM. It feels like I arrived just yesterday, but it also feels like an eternity. It&amp;rsquo;s crazy to think that next week will be my last P-Day here in the CCM. I&amp;rsquo;ve learned so much and still feel unprepared for the language. Pero está bien. The Lord provides a way for those things He asks us to do. So, let&amp;rsquo;s see what happened.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>CCM Week 4 - As God so Commandeth, He Provideth a Way</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-4/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 11 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-4/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hola todos! ¿Cómo estás todos? Este misionero es tan feliz y emocionado! &lt;em&gt;(Hello everyone! How are you all? This missionary is so happy and excited!)&lt;/em&gt; We&amp;rsquo;re going to the temple again today! Wooo! I made the mistake of sending my email early last week so I waited until later for this one. Siento, no siento &lt;em&gt;(Sorry, not sorry)&lt;/em&gt;. So what happened this week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday &lt;em&gt;(Miércoles)&lt;/em&gt; we went to the temple!!! It was absolutely epic and so pretty! The temple also sells what&amp;rsquo;s known as sock ties and they&amp;rsquo;re super popular here so I obviously had to grab some. I love the temple! El templo de la Cuidad de México es tán bonita! &lt;em&gt;(The Mexico City Temple is so pretty!)&lt;/em&gt; It looks like an ancient Aztec temple which I&amp;rsquo;m told is where the inspiration for its design came from.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>CCM Week 3 - Halfway Through the CCM? You must be mistaken...</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-3/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-3/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hola mi amigos y familia! ¿Cómo está? This last week has been short and amazing! I am so excited for this opportunity to serve the Lord! I feel His love constantly around me and I feel the love He has for all of you! I love being able to tell you all every week about the experiences out here on a mission. So sorry, not sorry, my emails are long. I am about to do a temple session here in the Mexico City Temple so I will try my best to reply to everyone. Anywho, enough rambling, onto the week! ¡Vámonos!&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>CCM Week 2 - I need a subject lol</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-2/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-2/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Ah, here we are. Week 2 P-day came a little early this time but it&amp;rsquo;s good (está bien). These last few days have been absolutely amazing and I&amp;rsquo;ve loved it! Also, I found out right after my last email that I can read any email that comes in during the week, but I can&amp;rsquo;t respond until my P-Day. Anyhow, onto the letter!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunday was epic. I barely understood the talks that were given but the Spirit was there testifying about the truth of whatever they were saying. We started of the day with a presentation about the importance of chastity. The adversary was very determined to be there and made everyone feel guilty, even though we were all just fine. If we weren&amp;rsquo;t, we wouldn&amp;rsquo;t be able to be here. Then we watched an MTC exclusive video from Elder Holland. I&amp;rsquo;ll admit, he gets right up in your face about it. He said some awesome quotes but one in particular hit all of us like a brick wall. He said the following in reference to leaving the church after serving a mission, &amp;ldquo;You can never go back, it will never be the same. If you do, you will&amp;hellip; break the heart of God himself.&amp;rdquo; Wow. That is powerful. Just taking that in, in that moment, was heartbreaking to think about.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>CCM Week 1 - I have no idea what&#39;s going on... and I think I like it</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-1/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 23 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/ccm-week-1/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hola! ¿Cómo le va? Yo soy fantástico! (Hello! How are you doing? I am fantastic!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s been so much happen this week and it&amp;rsquo;s all starting to melt together into a blob. But I&amp;rsquo;m completely fine with it! Normally I won&amp;rsquo;t email on Saturdays, it will be Wednesdays here in the MTC (CCM). The schedule is a little messed up this week. There&amp;rsquo;s lots to say so let&amp;rsquo;s start with the adventures.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Mission Farewell</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/mission-farewell/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 17 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/mission-farewell/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Good morning brothers and sisters. It&amp;rsquo;s so great to have the opportunity to be able to speak here in my home ward before I go out into the mission field. For one last time, those who are unaware, I report to the Mexico MTC on Tuesday where I will then proceed to my mission area, in Texas Houston East. This includes Lake Charles and Beaumont for those who are familiar with the geography. It is such a privilege to speak with my little brother and an actual missionary so I believe the Lord&amp;rsquo;s hand was involved with this.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Pre-MTC</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/pre-mtc/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 17 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/pre-mtc/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone! I just wanted to write something before I head off onto the plane and the MTC. I&amp;rsquo;m certainly going to miss everyone and once again, thank you all for helping me get to this point in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep getting asked how I feel about this and honestly, I&amp;rsquo;m just excited. I&amp;rsquo;ve been excited ever since I opened my call back in July but I know that I was supposed to enter this mission field at this time in my life, both for my own good and for the good of those that I am going to go serve. I&amp;rsquo;ve learned many lessons to this point and most have been good. Some have been bad, but I&amp;rsquo;ve learned from those and they&amp;rsquo;ve helped me get here.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Modern Challenges, Eternal Trust</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/modern-challenges-eternal-trust/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 13 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/modern-challenges-eternal-trust/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;As this is my last time speaking with the fine men of our stake high council, they certainly decided to assign me a great topic and some great people to speak alongside with. This General Conference last week was certainly a fantastic one, one that personally fed my Spirit in ways that I hadn&amp;rsquo;t noticed before. I certainly hope it fed yours as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The topic I was assigned was Elder L. Todd Budge&amp;rsquo;s talk from the Saturday Afternoon Session titled &amp;ldquo;Consistent and Resilient Trust&amp;rdquo;. Before I start with his talk, I have a personal experience I would love to share. An entry to a journal I keep reads: &amp;ldquo;Experience with doing my own Endowments (and afterward)&amp;rdquo;. I&amp;rsquo;d like to focus on the &amp;ldquo;and afterward&amp;rdquo; part of that title. For some context, I had done my endowments and was asked if I&amp;rsquo;d like to be a temple worker until I left for my mission, which I joyfully accepted.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Pray Always</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/pray-always/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 13 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/pray-always/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Good morning brothers and sisters. I’m grateful to be speaking with you today with these fine men behind me. They have been such a positive influence in my life. I was asked to speak today on Elder Bednar’s talk from the October 2008 conference, &amp;ldquo;Pray Always&amp;rdquo;. He outlines his talk with three principles. #1, Prayer becomes more meaningful as we counsel with the Lord in all our doings. #2, Prayer becomes more meaningful as we express heartfelt gratitude. #3, Prayer becomes more meaningful as we pray for others with real intent and a sincere heart. Notice how with all these principles, they start with ‘prayer becomes more meaningful as we…’ then continues to the principle itself. This was intriguing to me.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Preparing to Teach the Gospel</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/preparing-to-teach-the-gospel/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/preparing-to-teach-the-gospel/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hello everybody. I’m grateful to be here speaking to you. I was given the topic of Preparing to Teach the Gospel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This first part comes from the Preach My Gospel Manual, Section 2. The Lord has said, “Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men” (D&amp;amp;C 11:21). To teach effectively, you need to obtain spiritual knowledge. For you to grow in the gospel and stay on the path that leads to eternal life, you need to develop a habit of daily gospel study.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Saved For These Days</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/saved-for-these-days/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 03 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/saved-for-these-days/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Satan can seem like a very powerful being in this day and age. With so many resources that he has to tempt us, it may seem impossible to escape his grasp. But it is not so. We have been saved for these last days specifically because we would be able to withstand the temptations that we face in today’s world. I recently rewatched a film that I haven’t seen in many years and I can say again that we are not alone! In this fight with Satan, we are anything but alone. With the Holy Ghost, Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ by our sides at all times, we are never alone! So many times, I, myself, have felt completely and utterly alone. These times have been very moving, giving me a feeling of what it is like to be without the guiding presence of the Holy Ghost. Some, like myself, experience this period for longer than is necessary. I did it out of stubbornness. Others do it out of spite, hatred, or many other reasons. But I’ve recently come to accept a challenge that was extended to me a year or two ago.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>God&#39;s Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/gods-compelling-witness-the-book-of-mormon/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/gods-compelling-witness-the-book-of-mormon/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Sunday School General President Tad R. Callister gave a talk in the October 2017 General Conference titled &amp;ldquo;God’s Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon&amp;rdquo;. In this talk, he takes an interesting &amp;ldquo;well what if this&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;what if that&amp;rdquo; approach to disprove the adversaries claims about the Book of Mormon being a figment of Joseph Smith’s imagination that he wrote and we use so frequently in our church today. &amp;ldquo;The Book of Mormon is not only the keystone of our religion, but it can also become the keystone of our testimonies so that when trials or unanswered questions confront us, it can hold our testimonies securely in place.&amp;rdquo; The Book of Mormon, in any case, sits on the scales of truth with the critics’ arguments and outweighs them. Why is this? Because if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a true prophet and this is the restored Church of Jesus Christ, regardless of any historical or other arguments that are contrary. For this reason among many others, the adversary is determined on disproving the Book of Mormon, but the obstacles are insurmountable because of the truth that the book holds.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Behold, the Lamb of God</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/coming-to-terms/</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/coming-to-terms/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Over the last year, I&amp;rsquo;ve come to realize some not-so-pleasant things about others. I never thought that it would be possible to become friends with someone and then have them stab you in the back. It hurts, and I had never felt this sort of hurt before. I was left with many questions but I was focused on one in particular: what did I do wrong? What did I miss?&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>In the Details</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-the-details/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/in-the-details/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m sitting here reading an article I found on the Church&amp;rsquo;s website about Brett Taylor&amp;rsquo;s wife. (Brett was the guy who was killed in action in Afghanistan while serving as city mayor out in the Wasatch Front). I&amp;rsquo;m amazed at the strength that his wife has to move on and continue to raise their seven children without the physical support of her husband. But I know that it happened for a reason. Just like Trevor&amp;rsquo;s death. They both happened for a reason that we here on earth do not understand. That&amp;rsquo;s hard for me to see. Here on earth, I seriously question God&amp;rsquo;s reasoning&amp;rsquo;s for this. Trevor left behind five children, one of them anti-LDS. I&amp;rsquo;m left to question and wonder why. Why then? Both men left behind lovely families, leaving their wife&amp;rsquo;s widowed. That&amp;rsquo;s a hard thing to process. But as the article says, God is there in the details even when things change. I know that there is something massive going on beyond the veil and beyond our comprehension. While I may not be able to see it, I know that I can be one of God&amp;rsquo;s instruments that helps his work along.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Behold, the Lamb of God</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/behold-the-lamb-of-god/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 26 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/behold-the-lamb-of-god/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Good morning brothers and sisters. As I stated before, you&amp;rsquo;re going to be seeing a lot of younger faces up here as we prepare for missions, no offense to those that are also on the stand with me today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my talk today is based on another talk given in this last general conference. It is &amp;ldquo;Behold, the Lamb of God&amp;rdquo; by Jeffery R. Holland. He starts with the following: &amp;ldquo;Looking up from the water&amp;rsquo;s edge, past the eager crowds seeking baptism at his hand, John, called the Baptist, saw in the distance his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, striding resolutely toward him to make a request for that same ordinance. Reverently, but audible enough for those nearby to hear, John uttered the admiration that still moves us two millennia later: ‘Behold the Lamb of God.&amp;rsquo;&amp;rdquo; Now, at the time, a lamb was used as a figure in sacrificial ceremonies, a very common image among the religious. The sacrificial lamb was offered in atonement for the sins and sorrows of the fallen world. Elder Holland then goes into a short history lesson explaining why a lamb of all animals was used. Allow me to shorten this even further. After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they faced a devastatingly confusing future. They opened the doors to mortality and in turn, closed the doors to immortality and eternal life for their own selves. &amp;ldquo;Due to a transgression they had consciously chosen to make in our behalf, they now faced physical death and spiritual banishment, separation from the presence of God forever. … We are not certain just how much the two were allowed to remember of the instruction they received while still in the garden, but they did remember they were to regularly offer for a sacrifice unto God a pure, unblemished lamb, the first male born of their flock. An angel later came to explain that this sacrifice was a type, a prefiguration of the offering that would be made in their behalf by the Savior of the world who was to come.&amp;rdquo; In the premortal council, God promised Adam and Eve along with everyone else that help would come from his unblemished Firstborn Son, the Lamb of God.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Where can true happiness be found?</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/where-can-true-happiness-be-found/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 12 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/where-can-true-happiness-be-found/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Good morning brothers and sisters. So, before I start off, I&amp;rsquo;d just like to say that this isn&amp;rsquo;t the last time you&amp;rsquo;re going to see me up here at this podium. As a future missionary, the stake presidency has assigned me to a high councilman and every month, I speak with that high councilman in whatever ward we&amp;rsquo;re assigned to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was asked to speak on Where can true happiness be found? And while I was getting ready to fall asleep one night, I was pondering this question when a thought came to mind. That thought was Heavenly Mother, because today is Mother&amp;rsquo;s Day after all. We all talk about our Heavenly Father and what He does for us, but have we stopped to think, and remember, that we have a Heavenly Mother? Not a lot of people do, it&amp;rsquo;s something we sometimes forget about because it isn&amp;rsquo;t mentioned like at all anywhere in the scriptures. Churchofjesuschrist.org mentions this fact in its definition of Heavenly Mother.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Answers to Prayer</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/answers-to-prayer/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/answers-to-prayer/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;My topic was based upon the talk given just this last general conference titled “Answers to Prayer” given by Elder Brook P. Hales of the Seventy in the Saturday morning session. I personally did not watch it at the time, being occupied with something that I don’t even remember. That’s how insignificant it was compared to general conference but at the time, it took precedence. While talking about my inability to make choices concerning my own spiritual welfare, the title of this talk stands out to me. “Answers to Prayer”. While remaining simple, it speaks on a much larger magnitude. Through personal experience, I have found, as many people do, that God sometimes has a sense of humor. Your question may not be answered right away or in the way that you had anticipated, sometimes far from it.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Too Good</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/too-good/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 08 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/too-good/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;You ever had someone act like they&amp;rsquo;re too good for something? Maybe too good for you? Now it doesn&amp;rsquo;t necessarily have to be someone that you&amp;rsquo;re crushing on. Maybe an old friend. Maybe a colleague. Or maybe even yourself! We all do it at some point in our lives, even if it&amp;rsquo;s unintentional. Even if somebody doesn&amp;rsquo;t call you out on it, you&amp;rsquo;ve probably acted like you&amp;rsquo;re too good for someone else. I know I have and almost anyone I&amp;rsquo;ve ever been around has acted like that to someone else at some point, whether intentional or not.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Answers to Prayer</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/gullible-trust/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 29 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/gullible-trust/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;We, as human beings, naturally will trust another human being. It&amp;rsquo;s written in our DNA. Sometimes, however, that trust can be misplaced. It can happen in a variety of ways but the main one I&amp;rsquo;ll be focusing on today is that when we trust someone else, we sometimes rush that trust; we trust too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m sure we all have experiences of trusting too quick. I know I have several times but each time, I&amp;rsquo;ve learned something new. I&amp;rsquo;m sure you have too. You probably have you&amp;rsquo;re own lessons that you&amp;rsquo;ve learned and today I&amp;rsquo;d like to share some of the ones I&amp;rsquo;ve learned through my own experiences.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Standing in the Wind</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/standing-in-the-wind/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 12 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/standing-in-the-wind/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;As I stand here in the wind, I have a thought to write this post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing in the wind, to me, seems to be calming despite the circumstances as to why I&amp;rsquo;m standing in the wind. Standing in the wind is like this life and the trials that it contains. The wind is those trials and you have a choice on how you can be manipulated by those trials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wind pushes on me, causing me to lean. However, when my friend (he&amp;rsquo;s a brother to me) comes to stand next to me, I&amp;rsquo;m no longer pushed on by the wind. He is pushed upon, but our support of each other causes us to be unmovable to the wind. I no longer sway in the wind and neither does he. This goes to show that you might sway in your own wind but with the help of others and trusting in God, we can be unmovable no matter what winds come to push upon us.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Don&#39;t change for anything</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/dont-change-for-anything/</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 22 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/dont-change-for-anything/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things in today&amp;rsquo;s world that kinda throws us for a loop. For example, getting fired from one job and having to find another. Having to move to a new town and make new friends (this is hard for everyone involved, especially adolescents). But there are a few things that we don&amp;rsquo;t have to change, no matter what our circumstances: who we are and what we believe. Who we are is something that we as a person can determine. We are the only one who can determine that. But sometimes, we aren&amp;rsquo;t truly the person we&amp;rsquo;ve made ourselves out to be. Don&amp;rsquo;t understand? Let me help.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>You&#39;re not alone. You are never alone.</title>
      <link>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/youre-not-along-you-are-never-alone/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid>https://thoughtsofalatterdaysaint.com/blog/youre-not-along-you-are-never-alone/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;A lot of people go through life doing what they want, when they want, not having a care about other people&amp;rsquo;s lives. After all, why should they care? It&amp;rsquo;s not their life; they shouldn&amp;rsquo;t be sticking their noses into the middle of somebody else&amp;rsquo;s business. But we should care about other people, not in the sense that we need to know everything about one person. But rather in the sense that we need to care about them like family and be aware of their needs. After all, we are all one big family down here on Earth.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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