Great Insights

       This week has been fantastic! There were so many wonderful activities that I got to participate in, all jam packed into 1 week.

       First, on Wednesday I got to attend the temple with my district. The Bountiful temple is so beautiful. With all due respect it's much nicer than the Dallas Temple, sorry. Also, I can see the Layton Temple from where I live and it also looks gorgeous.

       After the temple, we then stopped at In-N-Out, which was awesome. I walked in and instantly just felt very nostalgic, and it just felt like I was at home, it was a great feeling. I got my usual and even though it was up to In-N-Out's standards, it was not up to store 277's standards. (That's actually not a joke, it wasn't nearly as good. #277ForLife) 

        Thursday we had zone conference. This was the highlight of the week for me because there's this really cool tour of a full-scale replica of the Tabernacle that Moses and the Israelites used that we held our zone conference in. It was so cool, we got to go inside the tabernacle, they had the ark of the covenant, and they brought in some of the foremost experts on this stuff and they taught us a lot about the symbols and the clothing and a whole bunch of really neat stuff. I learned so much about the symbolism of everything; pair this experience with me having just read the Old Testament through Leviticus and I now have a much better understanding of what they did and why they did it. I also have a much better understanding of what happens in our temples today and how it ties back to the Old Testament. 

       Here's one insight about why the Israelites offered sacrifice that I'd like to share. The Israelites were required to perform sin sacrifices. As part of this they would take an unblemished lamb, lay their hands on the lambs head and confess their sins to essentially put upon the lamb their sins. They would then sacrifice this lamb to the Lord and then sin no more to be cleansed from their sins. Today Christ (an unblemished lamb) has already been sacrificed for our sins, so all we need to do to be cleansed is pray and confess our sins to God asking for forgiveness (transferring our sins upon Christ) and then do our best to sin no more and remain cleansed. The tabernacle experience was the absolute best and better yet they are having the missionaries take shifts there for when it opens to the public. That's awesome because I'm positive that there's plenty more insights that I'll gain from it. 

        Then to cap it all off we had General Conference. What a wonderful Conference it was too. I loved the emphasis on missionary work (of course). Hopefully the members here were listening and we'll get some referrals. Still even if we don't  I realized this week that even though there aren't any non-members that we're currently teaching, there is still a work to be done here with plenty of people that I can help come closer to Jesus Christ. 

          Final note, I love what Jeffrey R. Holland said about suicide. I know that there is a light and a joy to be found on this Earth. The best way to find it is through Christ and I know and will testify over and over again that that is the truth, but even if you can't get yourself to come to Christ or can't accept his truth, don't suffer alone. Those around you can help you; by personal experience I can tell you that they will help you beyond what you can imagine. I love you guys and I love my Savior. 

          Until next week, Elder Blacker

I promise this double email won't become a "thing."

I did pay for a drink cup, I just chose to use a water cup. I did not steal.

This week somebody stopped us while walking and threw a perfectly good air horn at us, so that's been fun to wake up to.