11 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

[Mom mentioned that she had started reading the book, "Jesus the Christ," by James Talmadge.] I like it, it's not that hard for me ;) The beginning isn't so exciting but when he talks about the parables and things in Jesus's life it gets more exciting because you get to learn things you never knew. I'm almost done now, but I have been reading since the MTC. I really just read it because I wanted to hear what he had to say about Pilate but I ended up reading the rest of it.

[Mom talked about difficulties we all have in changing behaviors and why that is the case.] I guess it's because people don't want to be wrong and they think they are right. The easiest way is just to apply everything to yourself. When you hear a person say that people in general should be like this or that, stop and think about yourself...am I that person? That's also one way to study the scriptures too. Just apply everything to yourself. You can read to learn about history, you can read to learn doctrine, or you can read to apply everything to yourself so you can change. In my scriptures in Alma 17 I have tons of notes. It talks about Ammon and the beginning of his mission and cutting off arms. I have tons of notes that apply to life today (with help from my MTC teacher). You can always apply the scriptures to yourself. I have a lot of things I want to change to and I was thinking it would be helpful to study about that for a week. If I want to be more patient I should study patience for a week, just a bit everyday, and pray about it to ask for help. It will be easier the more you know about it and the more you understand the principle. After all, we should obey because of understanding etc. not because of fear or promised blessings. Like you said if we knew these things we would be exalted. We can know these things on earth though, and we need to know these things. We can even receive the blessings and promise of exaltation while we are still on the earth. It's something you have to work for and you have to study and pray to know and understand.