The Quest for Immortality

For thousands of years, men have sought for immortality. People have gone on perilous quests to find the fountain of youth; alchemists dedicate lives of study to finding the Philosopher's Stone and making an elixir of life. Across the world there are examples of people erecting monuments of stone to themselves in order to obtain lasting greatness. Even today, people spend millions of dollars every year on creams, dyes, and surgeries to make themselves younger looking. We seek to avoid aging and death at all costs.

Where is the solution for mankind's immortality? The Lord has said, "For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) Through the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, every person who has ever lived on this earth will one day live forever. What an amazing gift Christ offers to us!

"O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect." (2 Nephi 9:13,15)

What is the catch? What do we have to do to obtain this great gift? Nothing. Well, almost nothing. Before we become immortal beings we must die. It seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? But that's the way it works. Over and over again in the scriptures Christ teaches us that "whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matt. 16:25, see also Matt. 10:39, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, John 12:25 )

This is the way of the Lord. It is true in this practical sense, that we all must die before we are resurrected and become immortal. But it also is true in a deeper, spiritual sense: when we willingly give our lives to the service of Jesus Christ and his gospel, He will return unto us much more than we have ever sacrificed for Him.

The Lord asks but little from us, only that we follow him. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" (2 Nephi 31:10-21, see also Matt. 4:19) In return He promises eternal life (2 Nephi 31:20), peace (Isaiah 48:18, John 14:27) and joy (3 Nephi 28:10).

Why would Christ offer all of this to us? Because He loves us (Alma 26:15, John 3:16).

Halloween

Here are our costumes for Halloween this year. We helped with the ward's trunk-or-treat activity and had a great time.

I was a referee and Nate went as a tourist. His costume was awesome. Note the aloha shirt with swim trunks, camera across the shoulder, and long dark socks with Crocs.


Here you can also see the bus map in his shirt pocket. Awesome.

More posts to come this week. Check back!

Deb vs. Ants

My home has become a battlefield. The invasion started gradually, with only one or two scouts showing up and poking around. No big deal. And so I was slow to begin planning my counter-attack. Now if I'm not on my guard,

THE ANTS ARE EVERYWHERE!

Just when I think I've got them beat and I spray the dickens out of their little path with bug killer, they reappear from another direction with double the forces! Today I discovered that the ones on the bathroom counter came all the way from the kitchen. What are they eating in there, facewash?

The Deb Show

Aloha and welcome to the ward! Today we'll be having the Deb show!

This morning at church I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was about how the Young Women's program has strengthened my testimony. Our whole Young Women's presidency spoke. (I'm the 1st counselor)

Then, I subbed for another teacher and taught the Teacher Development class during Sunday School. We discussed the impact of having Christlike love for those you teach. Only two people came. One was Nate.

And I taught the Mia Maids during Young Women. We learned about making wise choices.

It was crazy. Church has never gone so fast. I was constantly hurrying about to gather chalk, pictures, play prelude, go sit on the stand, etc. Now I can really be grateful for regular Sundays when I only have one lesson to teach.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Amen.

Laundry

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the warm sun on my back, maybe it's the fresh smell of clean sheets, maybe it's seeing my clothes flapping in the blissful breeze that swirls through my apartment. There is something serene about it. I love hanging my laundry on the clothesline on our lanai.

Delays

Sorry, you're just going to have to keep waiting for the awesome post about Tuesday until I can get the video to work. Hopefully Nate will be able to help me soon.

Tahiti Tuesday

And now, the moment you've been waiting for.... TUESDAY! Thanks Steve, for helping me get the videos all sorted out.

We saw some huge sea turtles.

And headed back to the PCC. Here's Joe and Nate at Rapanui (Easter Island).

Whitney and I practiced our Tahitian dancing. Apparently it's all in the knees. My knees do not have it.

The best part though was watching the show at the Tahitian village. They taught the whole audience how to do Tahitian dancing. After we learned, they asked for volunteers and had a competition. Naturally, Whitney and I volunteered Joe and Nate to perform. They were awesome! Check it out:

Here are our dancers in their victory crowns!

These posts really don't do justice to the amazing week we had. Thanks Joe, Whitney and Ellie for coming to visit us!