Letter to the Missionaries 9-11-12

Letter to the Missionaries 9-11-12

 

Dear Elders, Sisters and wonderful Senior couples,

You all are always on my mind and in my prayers.  I love you all!  All week I have been thinking about you and about all that each one of you are doing.  Thank you.  It can be really hard out there!  So here is something to give you some food for thought.

President Monson:  “As we go about living from day to day, it is almost inevitable that our faith will be challenged.  We may at times find ourselves surrounded by others and yet standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what is acceptable and what is not.  So we have the moral courage to stand firm for our beliefs, even if by so doing we must stand alone?”

16 WAYS SATAN ATTACKS:

1.    He tries to blur our vision of why we’re here… on our mission or even on earth.

2.    He whispers that there is plenty of time to pull our spiritual lives together later.

3.    He feeds our vanity:  spend your time getting recognition and power

4.    He tells us that we are not worth much, and loves when we compare ourselves to others.

5.    He encourages us to judge and evaluate one another.

6.    He tells us that life should be easy and fun, and if not the gospel is not working

7.    He’s gradually numbing our morality:  music, computer, movies, books, and our tolerance level for evil increases.

8.   He wants us separated from each other.  To stop caring and nurturing one another in person.

9.    He wants us hung up on perfection, so we are frustrated and hopeless.

10. He loves it when we rely on others testimonies instead of gaining our own spiritual strength.

11. He tells the world that religion is restrictive and boring

12. He wants us to get hung up on unanswered questions

13. He has launched an all-out attack on women and their roll.

14. He is devouring marriages and families

15. He has others ridicule and mock religion. He will do anything to make us feel ashamed, embarrassed or to have doubts.

16. He tells us that the ‘natural man’ is good for us. He tells us that we should give in to our natural desires and do what we want.  He wants us to be a slave of our appetites. He wants us to be his.

 

President Monson: “It is up to you to keep your testimony alive.  Satan will try with all his might to destroy it.  Throughout your entire life you will need to nurture it.  As with the flame of a brightly burning fire, your testimony- if not continually fed- will fade to glowing embers and then cool completely.  You must not let this happen.”

 

I ask each one of you to please read and ponder the 16 ways Satan can shake our faith. (and I am sure that there are many more) I ask each one of you to understand that you can withstand anything that he throws your way.  You can do it.  Let us all go forward in faith, standing firm and looking our challenges square in the eye.  We climb every mountain one step at a time. But the peak is always in sight.  I love you!

Sister Alba