Blessings from Boston

Monday, February 28, 2011

4 General Authorities

Well hello there everybody :) so first off i would like to tell you all that i am currently serving in Lynn Mass.....a Cambodian/Spanish speaking area!!! My new comp, E. Hammer, is a Cambodian speaking missionary and the elders that we room with are spanish speaking elders :) yes i am living in a 4 elder apartments and it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool that i get this opportunity to listen to other people of different cultures and races. Right now we have 2 investigators and no dates, but that's alright :) i just hope that i will be of use in this area. For the most part there is really no Cambodian speaking people out here and i can still be apart of the lessons and not be completely useless so that's good :).

So the best news is yet to come....well i'm going to type it out rite now so be excited. As a entire mission, On February 26th 2011, We were able to meet 4 general authorities from the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints!!!! The first speaker was Elder Iring from the 6th Quorum of the 70

, then the Presiding Bishop H. David Burton

the the entire church spoke to us, after him we were able to hear from the President of the Quorum of the 70

Ronald A.Rasband

and lastly we were very blessed to be able to hear from D. Todd Christoferson of the Quorum of the 12!!!

Even cooler then that we got the chance to shake all of there hands!!! THEN....yes there is a then :) we had a mission photo and all 4 of them were apart of the picture!!!!!! Ya it was quite epic to say the least :) That was defiantly the highlight of my week so far. What an amazing way to start off the new transfer.

As a mission we read one chapter out of the B.O.M every day and in 6 months we are able to complete the B.O.M. right now we are in Mosiah and tomorrow morning we are going to read chapter 3.

I would encourage all of you to start there and read every morning with you families. That book is amazing and will accomplish amazing feats in you life's. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that Heavenly Father saved it for our time so that we would be able to learn and grow from it. I hope that you all have an amazing week i know that i love you :) talk to you all soon!!

Love

Elder Camron Foust

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

No Spanish lessons

Hello everybody! So let’s see what is there to tell. Well I went on tours last Wednesday to Springfield. It was a good experience. Those elders are Spanish speaking, but we didn't have any Spanish lessons that day :( I think that would have been pretty cool to sit in on one of those, not knowing what the heck is going on but still being able to feel the spirit :) ya that would have been cool. So I will be finding out tonight if I get transferred or not, and you all will be finding out tomorrow morning :) hmmm well there really isn't anything to tell really. Things are still really slow in this area we have been having a rough time getting things started up again, but the members are doing what they can so that helps a bunch :) Other than that it is going quite well over here and I'm enjoying it very much. I hope you all have a wonderful week LOVE YOU ALL!

Love
Elder Camron Foust

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Zone conference

Alright yet another weeks down and I still don’t have really much to say. We had a Zone conference on Thursday which was really good. We were able to hear our mission president and his wife speak to us. After that we went to separate classes and had the Zone leaders teach us about a certain topics. Lastly we had chili for lunch then went home :) it was a good conference and I was able to learn some new stuff. I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Love
Elder Camron Foust

Monday, January 31, 2011

ping pong

HOLY CRAP WERE ALREADY HALF WAY THOUGH THIS X-FER WHAT THE CRAP!!!! Alright so STORY TIME HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!! LOL ok so last night the Greenfield Elder's stayed the night in Amherst. They came down to steak conference and they were planning on coming over here again today for p-day so we decided that they might as well stay the night to save them miles and that way we could all hang out and have a grand old time doing random stuff. So we have this mini ping pong table on our apartment and we ended up playing on that and creating a very interesting game! HAHA it was epic so first off we played normal ping pong then we were taking pictures so I stared at a camera and kept hitting the ping pong without looking at it and one elder was like THAT WAS AWESOME MAN so we decided to stare at each other and play ping pong instead of playing like normal. Then for some reason we got the bright idea that two people should stand on either side of the table and just smack the heck out of the ping pong while the other two people were playing a normal game BUT we had to stare at each other so we could just hit the ball really easy :) so we got some good footage of these games and I will need to figure out how to show them to you all we had a blast and just couldn't stop laughing it was a pretty epic night. Well other than that nothing new over in Amherst. Love you all talk to ya soon :)

Love
Elder Camron Foust

Saturday, January 29, 2011

New companion is Elder Maxfield!!!!!

SUP EVERYBODY!

Sorry I forgot to send an e-mail last week and maybe the week before I don’t remember.....the weeks are flying buy give me a break :) anyway I got transferred to Amherst Mass and my new companion is Elder Maxfield!!!!! HAHAHA I am serving with my 2nd cousin or something to that affect, anyway its pretty cool out here we got shotguned which means that neither of us have ever been in this area before and we need to learn everything with little to no help haha anyway its time to go to lunch so ill e-mail you all later love ya!!!!

Monday, January 3, 2011

5 months already

Well it’s been another 6 weeks already, can you believe it?? I cant I’ve almost been out 5 months already......wow crazy to think about.....it's been a tough week for me personally, but its been a good one at the same time. I’m learning a lot and getting prepared for the future quite a bit out here. It's amazing at how much you grow up in such a little amount of time when you’re not at home having mom and dad fix everything. It’s really an amazing feeling growing up. I hope you all are having an amazing start to your new year. We will see if I get moved or if I stay in keene another 6 weeks :) talk to you all soon!

Love you all

Elder Camron Foust

Friday, December 31, 2010

Hello everybody! It's been a pretty good week i would have to say. Lots of parties that we got invited to and lots of food for the fridge! Anyway my zone went to the temple Wednesday and we had a blast. Yesterday I lost a 18 year old kid......yup 18 year old kid AT church!! haha it was really funny actually first off Ellen had to go get Tim from work so they could make it to Sunday school so they left Brian at the church and I was keeping track of him but then somebody stopped me and asked me something then next thing I knew brain was gone!!! ahh I was freaking out so Ellen got back to the church and I told her I have no idea where he went so we looked around the entire church like 5 times each outside and inside. so Ellen was like ok ill go for a little drive and see if he tried to walk home.....o important note he is autistic, ADD, and something else......anyway after Sunday school got out we found brain lol he was in the 18 year old Sunday school class the entire time! :) so ya funny story there it was intense and now pretty fun to tell people! Well that was pretty much my week just lots of stuff going on because of Christmas! I hope you all enjoy your self’s this week! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night ;)

Love
Elder Camron Foust

Mercy

When our hearts are filled with the love of God, we become “kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving.” My dear brothers and sisters, not long ago I received a letter from a concerned mother who pleaded for a general conference talk on a topic that would specifically benefit her two children. A rift had grown between them, and they had stopped speaking to each other. The mother was heartbroken. In the letter she assured me that a general conference message on this topic would reconcile her children, and all would be well. This good sister’s sincere and heartfelt plea was just one of several promptings I have received over these last months that I should say a few words today on a topic that is a growing concern—not only for a worried mother but for many in the Church and, indeed, the world. I am impressed by the faith of this loving mother that a general conference talk could help heal the relationship between her children. I am sure that her confidence was not so much in the abilities of the speakers but in “the virtue of the word of God,” which has a “more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than … anything else.” Dear sister, I pray that the Spirit will touch your children’s hearts. When Relationships Go Bad Strained and broken relationships are as old as humankind itself. Ancient Cain was the first who allowed the cancer of bitterness and malice to canker his heart. He tilled the ground of his soul with envy and hatred and allowed these feelings to ripen until he did the unthinkable—murdering his own brother and becoming, in the process, the father of Satan’s lies. Since those first days the spirit of envy and hatred has led to some of the most tragic stories in history. It turned Saul against David, the sons of Jacob against their brother Joseph, Laman and Lemuel against Nephi, and Amalickiah against Moroni. I imagine that every person on earth has been affected in some way by the destructive spirit of contention, resentment, and revenge. Perhaps there are even times when we recognize this spirit in ourselves. When we feel hurt, angry, or envious, it is quite easy to judge other people, often assigning dark motives to their actions in order to justify our own feelings of resentment. The Doctrine Of course, we know this is wrong. The doctrine is clear. We all depend on the Savior; none of us can be saved without Him. Christ’s Atonement is infinite and eternal. Forgiveness for our sins comes with conditions. We must repent, and we must be willing to forgive others. Jesus taught: “Forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not … [stands] condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” and “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Of course, these words seem perfectly reasonable—when applied to someone else. We can so clearly and easily see the harmful results that come when others judge and hold grudges. And we certainly don’t like it when people judge us. But when it comes to our own prejudices and grievances, we too often justify our anger as righteous and our judgment as reliable and only appropriate. Though we cannot look into another’s heart, we assume that we know a bad motive or even a bad person when we see one. We make exceptions when it comes to our own bitterness because we feel that, in our case, we have all the information we need to hold someone else in contempt. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, said that those who pass judgment on others are “inexcusable.” The moment we judge someone else, he explained, we condemn ourselves, for none is without sin.5 Refusing to forgive is a grievous sin—one the Savior warned against. Jesus’s own disciples had “sought occasion against [each other] and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened.” Our Savior has spoken so clearly on this subject that there is little room for private interpretation. “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive,” but then He said, “… of you it is required to forgive all men.” May I add a footnote here? When the Lord requires that we forgive all men, that includes forgiving ourselves. Sometimes, of all the people in the world, the one who is the hardest to forgive—as well as perhaps the one who is most in need of our forgiveness—is the person looking back at us in the mirror. The Bottom Line This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: Stop it! It’s that simple. We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children. God is our Father. We are His children. We are all brothers and sisters. I don’t know exactly how to articulate this point of not judging others with sufficient eloquence, passion, and persuasion to make it stick. I can quote scripture, I can try to expound doctrine, and I will even quote a bumper sticker I recently saw. It was attached to the back of a car whose driver appeared to be a little rough around the edges, but the words on the sticker taught an insightful lesson. It read, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” We must recognize that we are all imperfect—that we are beggars before God. Haven’t we all, at one time or another, meekly approached the mercy seat and pleaded for grace? Haven’t we wished with all the energy of our souls for mercy—to be forgiven for the mistakes we have made and the sins we have committed? Because we all depend on the mercy of God, how can we deny to others any measure of the grace we so desperately desire for ourselves? My beloved brothers and sisters, should we not forgive as we wish to be forgiven? The Love of God Is this difficult to do? Yes, of course. Forgiving ourselves and others is not easy. In fact, for most of us it requires a major change in our attitude and way of thinking—even a change of heart. But there is good news. This “mighty change” of heart is exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to bring into our lives. How is it done? Through the love of God. When our hearts are filled with the love of God, something good and pure happens to us. We “keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” The more we allow the love of God to govern our minds and emotions—the more we allow our love for our Heavenly Father to swell within our hearts—the easier it is to love others with the pure love of Christ. As we open our hearts to the glowing dawn of the love of God, the darkness and cold of animosity and envy will eventually fade. As always, Christ is our exemplar. In His teachings as in His life, He showed us the way. He forgave the wicked, the vulgar, and those who sought to hurt and to do Him harm. Jesus said it is easy to love those who love us; even the wicked can do that. But Jesus Christ taught a higher law. His words echo through the centuries and are meant for us today. They are meant for all who desire to be His disciples. They are meant for you and me: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” When our hearts are filled with the love of God, we become “kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving [each other], even as God for Christ’s sake [forgave us].” The pure love of Christ can remove the scales of resentment and wrath from our eyes, allowing us to see others the way our Heavenly Father sees us: as flawed and imperfect mortals who have potential and worth far beyond our capacity to imagine. Because God loves us so much, we too must love and forgive each other. The Way of the Disciple My dear brothers and sisters, consider the following questions as a self-test: Do you harbor a grudge against someone else? Do you gossip, even when what you say may be true? Do you exclude, push away, or punish others because of something they have done? Do you secretly envy another? Do you wish to cause harm to someone? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to apply the two-word sermon from earlier: stop it! In a world of accusations and unfriendliness, it is easy to gather and cast stones. But before we do so, let us remember the words of the One who is our Master and model: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.” Brothers and sisters, let us put down our stones. Let us be kind. Let us forgive. Let us talk peacefully with each other. Let the love of God fill our hearts. “Let us do good unto all men.” The Savior promised: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over. … For with the same measure that [you use] it shall be measured to you again.” Shouldn’t this promise be enough to always focus our efforts on acts of kindness, forgiveness, and charity instead of on any negative behavior? Let us, as disciples of Jesus Christ, return good for evil. Let us not seek revenge or allow our wrath to overcome us. “For it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. … “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Remember: in the end, it is the merciful who obtain mercy. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wherever we may be, let us be known as a people who “have love one to another.” Love One Another Brothers and sisters, there is enough heartache and sorrow in this life without our adding to it through our own stubbornness, bitterness, and resentment. We are not perfect. The people around us are not perfect. People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way. Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way. Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive. Lay your burden at the Savior’s feet. Let go of judgment. Allow Christ’s Atonement to change and heal your heart. Love one another. Forgive one another. The merciful will obtain mercy. Of this I testify in the name of the One who loved so well and so completely that He gave His life for us, His friends—in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.