You Are What You Think

Last weekend I attended Stake Youth Conference at Aspen Grove. To be honest I wasn’t too excited to go. It was at the end of one of the longest weeks we’ve ever had. I had been gone to Salt Lake helping with our annual sales training event for several long days while Holli was at home dealing with the flu. However it turned out to be a really great experience.

Friday night was a fireside with Max Hall followed by a two Stake combined dance. Then on Saturday there was a 3 hour morning workshop on “I will go”, “I will do”, and “I will be”, followed by cross country skiing and a closing testimony meeting in the afternoon. For the workshop there were 3 different sessions. One was a returned missionary panel that turned out to be the high point for me (followed very closely by the Chambers excellent talks). They had 6 or 7 recently returned missionaries from our Stake, including one from our ward who had only been home from Russia for a week, and one guy who had been back for 10 years. Listening to their experiences, thoughts, lessons learned, and struggles to find the right English words brought back all of my mission feelings. It was truly the most spiritually uplifting experience I’ve had in a long time. I sat listening with my notebook open recording one thought and insight after another; just like in the old mission conferences.

Well the one missionary who had been home for 10 years shared three points with the youth, one of which was that just like physically we are what we eat, we actually become what we think. This is such a great concept that is so important to understand. Especially considering the constant stream of media and information that is found in our modern world. This is one of the great blessing of serving a mission; the opportunity to study and ponder every morning and then go out and apply what’s learned through teaching and serving others (or else spending many long hours walking which offers more time for reflection).  I thought about this a lot and decided to make it the focus of my lesson for the priests yesterday. Below you will find my notes for the lesson, complete with a pretty tough challenge at the end.

On a side note I think the back side of Timp offers the most spectacular mountain views in all of Utah, too bad I didn’t have my camera because the weather and light made for a perfect day.

Stake Youth Conference – You Are What You Think

What do missionaries think about?

“Neither take ye thought beforehand ^awhat ye shall say; but ^btreasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be ^cgiven you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.” – D&C 84:85

A few examples:

“Behold, my ^asoul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my ^bheart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.” – 2 Ne 4:16

“Never did any passage of ^ascripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed ^bwisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects ^cunderstood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.”  – JS History 1:12

“On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room ^apondering over the scriptures;” D&C 138:1

What do you think about when you have nothing else to think about?

It was during President Eyring’s study of physics at the University of Utah and his father was explaining a complex mathematical problem when he stopped and said, “Hal we did the same kind of problem as this a week ago and you’re no better now than you were then at this.  Isn’t this what you think about when you don’t have anything else to think about?”  When President Eyring said “no,” a very solemn moment followed.  His father then said, “Well then, Hal, you’d better get out because you’ll be competing with people where this is their life and they’ll be as bright as you are.  You better go find something that you think about when you don’t have to think about it, when it’s just a joy to you.” – President Eyring

Why treasure up in your minds?

“Seek not to ^adeclare my word, but first seek to ^bobtain my ^cword, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my ^dSpirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the ^econvincing of men.” – D&C 11:21

You can’t teach what you don’t know. You can’t learn without study & effort.

“You can think about only what you know, so you ought to learn something;” – Arthur Schopenhauer

“It is true intelligence for a man
to take a subject that is
mysterious and great in itself,
and to unfold and simplify it so
that a child can understand it.”
– PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR
THE GOSPEL KINGDOM, SEL. G. HOMER DURHAM (1943), 270 – Found in Preach My Gospel

How to do it?

“But your mind has been on the things of the ^aearth more than on the things of me, your Maker, and the ministry whereunto you have been called; and you have not given heed unto my ^bSpirit, and to those who were set over you, but have been persuaded by those whom I have not commanded.  Wherefore, you are left to inquire for yourself at my hand, and ^aponder upon the things which you have received.” – D&C 30:2-3

1) Study & ponder scriptures each morning

2) Mark scriptures using multiple color system – take time

3) Think about scriptures during breaks throughout each day

4) Take quiet time to reflect each night

5) Tune out the world (tv, video games, Internet, ipods, cell phones, radio) during quiet times

What do you want to be?

“My earnest hope for each of you young men is that you will not simply go on a mission—but that you will become missionaries long before you submit your mission papers, long before you receive a call to serve, long before you are set apart by your stake president, and long before you enter the MTC.” – Elder Bednar – Becoming a Missionary

Solitude of the Savior

“And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to ^apray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” – Matt 14:23
Challenge – 1 Week

1 hour study/ponder/reflect/journal time each day (no distractions)
No Ipods
Report on (verbal or written)  What Are You Thinking