The Amazing Race

Good afternoon 

I was reading a quote by President Heber J. Grant this morning about what true prosperity since I was reading about Nephi and his view vs his brothers views pres grant said: “When I say prosperity I am not thinking of it in terms of dollars and cents alone. … What I count as real prosperity … is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind”

This week ran in a race, The Amazing Race, for a fundraiser. I want to go on show and I thought it would be challenging yet very rewarding, as we compared ourselves to other participants.  We got the first clue, flew through the challenge and got our second clue. It said something about "Jim" and being healthy. We had no idea what it meant, we tried the few places we thought could be it and couldn't find it, so we asked people on the streets that we saw and asked if they could help, two of the groups of people we talked to were from out of town, so we probably shouldn't have taken any of their advise. The others said they had no idea either. We knew there was a health store down a ways and the people who said they had no idea said that could be a possibility. We ran and didn't feel like we were going the right way, but we said we had already committed and kept going. I was trying to remember the sponsors for this race and I couldn't remember if I had seen the store in the list of sponsors. We got there and it wasn't the right location. We asked for help and the lady said oh it's probably the gym, not Jim. We were tired and discouraged that we had gone off course. We got back in town and found the gym and continued on with the race. We passed a few teams but knew we were far behind. We persevered and passed a few teams. Knowing that we were so far behind discouraged, not motivated me. We eventually completed the course and finished the race. We were sore and tired but we completed the race. 

There are lots of things we can compare to the gospel in this event. 

1)We shouldn't be prideful or big headed, we shouldn't compare ourselves or our abilities with those around us. 2)We shouldn't just trust or believe what anyone says. "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" 3) use the resources and knowledge that we have and have been given, we aren't going to know everything, but we should use what the Lord has given us. 4) We were not prepared physically for this race, there was no prior training. If we aren't constantly doing the "small and simple things" the race is going to be really hard and you will be really sore afterwards. 5) No matter what place we are in, no matter what detours have happened in our race, we need to continue to press forward, trusting in the Lord, knowing that He is in charge we can't get discouraged and we must endure to the end. 6) Continue to love everyone, if they were pushing you too much or slowing you down, passing you, or saying things when you passed them, we have to keep doing our best and loving those around us, when we have that pure love of Christ we will be a lot happier and so will the people we come in contact with.

I also saw the new Mormon message, "Lift" -that is what this gospel and life is all about. Whatever we do to lift someone is missionary work. If we are helping people feel the love of Jesus Christ, we are doing missionary work. 

Chelsea Wilson, Gabe Denna and Randy and Virgina nikclaus are all doing great. The Lord is hastening His work. And when we do our part we can help with his work. 

This week was crazy with crazy people. I have seen lots of people with lots of different beliefs and I am so grateful for the truthfulness of this work. It's not just some organization but it is Jesus Christ's church. I love this gospel. 

I love you all.

Love, Elder David Witt

May 18, 2015