Week 90 Milagros y Milagros

March 29, 2021

Kingsport, Tennessee

Elder Murdock

Wow, what didn't happen this week??

I have been silent for the past few weeks on here so here is an overload for youns.

Our friends Cameron and Sam were baptized this week! Cameron already has the priesthood now and is moving out to Utah for work. He is getting married in July after I get home so I might be going to his wedding. And has plans to be sealed as soon as he can to his wife Abby!

Sam's mom was reactivated this year and it was cool to see the promise fulfilled that a baptism follows a reactivation.

We also had a great Zone Conference this week and the theme was consecration - my favorite topic in the Gospel.

Most importantly, I would like to take you to the scriptures as you start your Holy Week in preparation to Easter & General Conference. Turn with me to John 11 - Here we read one of the most important miracles and teachings of the Savior. Lazarus is raised from the dead as a type of Christ.

Think about Mary and Martha. Imagine your own brother, or one of your loved ones. They have passed away, been gone for 4 days, and Jesus Christ walks to you. Imagine you are Martha, and you run to see him. We would probably say these same words:

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Then after telling Him that you know He will rise in the resurrection, you hear these words:

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Maybe you were like Mary, who had been too sorrowful to even leave the house. After coming out and seeing her Savior, she asks the same question as her sister, to which then Jesus does this:

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.

To me this is a deeper teaching of the Atonement and His resurrection than what may seem on the surface. But that is for a much longer discussion.

In conclusion, I love what the Savior does right before the miracle takes place. I think this is what the Easter message truly is:

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

This Easter, I remember that whenever I think I have completed some hard task in the Lord's service, or when I am tired or uncertain of what is to come, I can thank my Father in Heaven for hearing me. I can thank Him for providing me vision and hope through the Atonement and Resurrection of His Son.

I have never been so consistently and resiliently happy in my life. Thank you for pushing me along and supporting me!

-Elder Jorgensen