Temporary Home

There truly is no place like home.  But home is different for everyone.  Depending on who you ask, their views of home will be different.  Home is where you hang your hat.  Home is where your bed is.  Home is that house you live in.  Home is where your heart is.  Amidst all of the different definitions of home, how can we know what our own personal home is?  We can all say that we have some kind of a home here on earth, but is it truly our home?

I've always been struck by the chorus of a Carrie Underwood song called "Temporary Home".  In the song, she describes three different situations, but in the end, they all respond with the lyrics in the chorus, which read:

This is my temporary home
It's not where I belong.
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through.
This is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going.
I'm not afraid because I know this is my
Temporary Home.

This world is only our temporary home.  Sure, there are many places in the world and times of our life that bring us great joy, but we have a way better home waiting for us on the other side.  A heavenly home.  Nothing can compare to it.  "No matter how enticing the world might be, it was never intended to be our home." ~ Kevin Hinckley (emphasis added).  So don't forget what you're working towards.  Never let it escape your mind.  Greater joy lies ahead.  May we cease to walk without direction or wander without reason, but continually carry on to our heavenly home.

2011: Entrusted by Heaven

Our theme for the Billings, Montana mission is 2011: Entrusted by Heaven.  To me, trust has always been something I treasure.  People don't just automatically have my trust.  They have to prove to me that they deserve it.   Trust is never given, only earned.  But all the trust in the world can be shattered in seconds.  It just takes one act to lose someone’s trust.  Then it's harder and harder to earn it back. 

Now, let's get back to the theme.  As missionaries, we are entrusted by heaven.  We are sent to spread the gospel to as many people as we come in contact with.  In a sense, we're doing what the savior told his apostles to do at the end of the Book of Matthew.  "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: an lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.  Amen."  (Matt. 28:19-20).  He says he will always be there with us, but we have to earn his trust first.

When I think of trust, I think of the Army of Helaman.  Those 2000 or so warriors were the epitome of trust.  Alma 53:20 reads, "And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all - they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted."  Think of how much good we can accomplish if Heaven trusts us.  If they know that we'll only use their power for good.  That'd be awesome.  If we live our lives in a way that proves we can be trust by heaven, there will be nothing that we can't accomplish.