Jesus Christ really does love us.

The moment comes to realisation that Elder Pinyon has sent me his last email entry as a full time missionary. It is exciting to know that he will arriving back to Australia this week. Wow! Where did the last 2 years and a bit go? There is still HOPE for this blog to reach 10,000 total page views before Elder Pinyon gets home. There is only very limited days left.

Elder Pinyon has said,

"Jesus Christ really does love you.

Hello my dear Family and Friends,

This here is my last entry as a full time missionary. It brings me tears to know it's my last. I want to thank you all for your help, love and support. Today, I'd love to talk about love and Christlike love.

Is there a difference? What is love? What is Christlike love? Many of these questions have I tried to answer during my mission. Some of them answered and some I am still working on finding the answer. Something that was promised to me, is that I would go on my mission, feel and see the love of God that He has for me and His children and then be able to share the pure love of Christ with others. I know that I have felt the love of God on my mission. More than once and I am truly grateful for the love that He offers me.

John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loves us. There is a hymn in the Music Hymn book from our church. It's called "I Stand all Amazed" (#193). The first and second verse say:

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine, That he should extend his great love unto such as I, Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

Then with a wonderful chorus leading this beautiful hymn:

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

This hymn and these words, just sum up my feelings that I feel everyday because of my Saviour, Jesus Christ and His Father, our Heavenly Father, God. I'm truly grateful for the love that God gives
me. I know He cares. He does watch out for us and He wants us to become better.

My favourite scripture in the English holy writ is John 15:13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The reason I love this scripture is because it explains everything for me. When I have a problem, when I am stressed, when I feel like someone has done wrong to me, I turn to this scripture and understand that I am a loved child of my Heavenly Father.

Christ is truly there for us and he only wants what's best for us. I know this, because I have seen Him change my life and also the life of many in Germany. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Gods kingdom on Earth and that it is the only church that has a fullness of truth. I know God lives and loves us, every single one of us. He has changed so many lives and will keep on doing that, until His work is complete. I love you all, take care and until next week.

Elder Pinyon

PS. The updates will keep coming, I'll tell you all about my homecoming and about my 30 hour flight home.

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned until next time.

Things are really going well in Zwickau

This week's update,

"Hello my dear friends and family,

Things are really going well in Zwickau. I love Zwickau, it is definitely my favourite ward and the people are just so friendly and nice. It's going to be hard next week, to say bye to all these wonderful people that I have met. But it's ok, I'm coming back and I'll see them all again. Our friend Brother Arnold come to church again yesterday.

He is preparing for his baptism on the 12 March. I'm so excited for him. He told me yesterday that after he ate breakfast, that all his power and strength left him. He really wanted to come to church, but Satan had once again attacked. He started vacuuming the house and after that, his strength came back, so he hoped in the car and came to church. One piece of advice, cleaning is good for the soul and will strengthen us. We need to clean our temples, or in other words, our bodies.

When we keep our bodies clean from all sorts of filth, the Lord will bless us with the strength that we need to keep going. The Prophet, Joseph Smith Jr. received a revelation in 1833 called the Word of Wisdom. This is a commandment, that helps us maintain a good health and also helps us to keep a clean body and temple.

As it says in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

We need to keep our temples clean so the Spirit of the Lord can dwell in us. Another way of keeping our temple clean is by not letting in the filth and sleaze of the world. Namely, pornography. This will only destroy you and also your family later on in life. I read a great quote this week that said "porn kills love". That is so true. Don't let your thoughts dwindle within this sleaze, it's not needed. Keep your mind clean and pure and come unto Christ. If you have had problems in the past with any of these things, it's ok, that's why we have a Saviour. He came so we could be forgiven for these mistakes we made, but use His Atonement.

I hope you all have a great week, take care,

Elder Pinyon

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned until next time.

If you want to be a master teacher, you must first be a master student

For the past weeks, I have been noticing Elder Pinyon sends me a email either during our conversation or send me directly about the weekly updates. About 3 weeks ago, Elder Pinyon has asked me to stop posting on his Facebook wall about blog updates. As far as I know, Elder Pinyon sends me updates directly because it saves time.

The advantages to that is he gets more time to email other friends, email family and he still gets the time to talk to me via emails. This week's update is short and amazing.

Subject: If you want to be a master teacher, you must first be a master student

Message: 

"Nicodemus came unto Christ one night and said to Him "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God".

What is a great teacher and what is a great student?

A great student is someone who listens and takes council. They are teachable and open for new ideas, so they can try to apply that to their own lives. Great Students are those who seek to learn. Sometimes they don't have the best grades or the best scores at school, but they are those who put in the most effort. Effort is where success is found. If we always give our best, no matter what the outcome may be, God will bless us.

A great teacher is someone who is loving, caring and wants to give. Their passion is to always help their neighbour. We have 2 great teachers, they are:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The Holy Ghost
John 14:26 says the following: but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall TEACH you all things, and BRING all things to your REMEMBRANCE, whatsoever I have said unto you.

So great teachers, Teach and bring to remembrance.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ did the same as He was speaking with Nicodemus. He taught him about baptism and how a man must be born again. Nicodemus, he was a little confused. Christ helped him understand that we must be born again through the Spirit. That our sins need to be washed away so we can become clean and live with God again.

I hope we all can become teachers from God. That should always be our goal, I know it's one of mine.

I love you all and have a great week

Elder Pinyon

Sent from Elder Pinyon."

Stay Tuned until next time.

Come unto Christ

"Good morning dear family and friends,

This week has been solid!! Our friend Br. Arnold accepted to be baptised on the 12 March 2016 and on Sunday he came to church and loved it. He has already started smoking less and less and is really  excited for his baptism!!!

In Matthew 14 our Saviour and Redeemer once walked on water unto His disciples and said unto them "Fear not, be of good cheer. It is I". What comforting words, to know that the Saviour will come unto us and tell us to not fear, but that He is coming. Will we be like Peter though?

Peter then cried to the Master, "master if it be thou, bid me onto the water," Peter showed his faith in Lord by asking Him to ask him to come onto the water. To do something that no normal person would do. Would you do the same? Would you ask the Saviour to help you do something that no other human has ever done?

The Master then bided Peter onto the water and as Peter watched Christ and walked unto Him, he feared not, rather remembered the words of the Master "Fear not, be of good cheer, it is I". Peter walking with faith and his full concentration focused on the Saviour walked unto Him on water. Would you trust the Lord enough to do something that no other human has done before?

As Peter then noticed that he was doing something that no other human had ever done before, he feared for his life and starting to loose full focus on the Saviour and started focussing on himself and the World. He then cried out to the Master, "Lord, save me". Peter still knew that Christ was the Master, the Saviour and Redeemer of the World, so he asked Him to save him. With this cry of faith, the Master stretched out His arm and helped Peter back to the boat.

He also added these few words "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" The same question I ask to you, wherefore did you doubt? Why do we as humans doubt that the Saviour can keep us safe? Peter knew who the Saviour was and is. He met with Him, ate with Him, listened to His teachings, walked with Him and many more things, yet he still doubted.

Unfortunately, we don't have this opportunity what Peter had to be with the Saviour, but we can surely find out if He is there. We just need to do what Peter did. Cry unto the Lord "if it be thou, bid me to come unto thou." If Christ is really in our lives, cry unto Him in prayer and ask Him to bid you unto Him. He will give you a clear answer that He lives and loves you. He is my Saviour, He is your
Saviour. He gave His life, so we could be able to live in His and our Heavenly Fathers presence once again.

I love you all my family and friends. Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him (Moroni  10:32)

Have a great week.

Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

One of Personal Revelation

Here's this week's update. Elder Pinyon said, "My message for my friends and family this week is one of personal revelation. We should never be scared of praying to God and reading in His scriptures to receive an answer. I'm going to share an experience, that an Apostle of the church once had.

President Romney had an experience in which the Lord gave him a promise similar to Nephi’s. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke about it:

“In 1967 Sister Ida Romney suffered a serious stroke. The doctors told then-Elder Romney that the damage from the hemorrhage was severe. They offered to keep her alive by artificial means but did not recommend it. The family braced for the worst. Brother Romney confided to those closest to him that in spite of his anguished, personal yearning for Ida’s restored health and continued companionship, above all he wanted ‘the Lord’s will to be done and to take what he needed to take without whimpering.’

“As the days wore on, Sister Romney became less responsive. She had, of course, been administered to, but Elder Romney was ‘reluctant to counsel the Lord about the matter.’ Because of his earlier unsuccessful experience of praying that he and Ida might have children, he knew that he could never ask in prayer for something that was not in harmony with the will of the Lord. He fasted that he might know how to show the Lord he had faith and would accept God’s will in their lives. He wanted to make sure he had done all he could do. But she continued to fail.

“One evening in a particularly depressed state, with Ida unable to speak or recognize him, Brother Romney went home and turned, as he always had, to the scriptures in an effort to commune with the Lord. He picked up the Book of Mormon and continued where he had left off the night before. He had been reading in Helaman about the prophet Nephi, who had been falsely accused and unfairly charged with sedition. Following a miraculous deliverance from his accusers, Nephi returned home pondering the things he had experienced. As he did so he heard a voice.

“Although Marion Romney had read that story many times before, it now struck him this night as a personal revelation. The words of the scripture so touched his heart that for the first time in weeks he felt he had tangible peace. It seemed as if the Lord were speaking directly to him. The scripture read: ‘Blessed art thou, … for those things which thou hast done; … thou hast not … sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.’ (Helaman 10:4–5.)

“There was the answer. He had sought only to know and obey the will of the Lord, and the Lord had spoken. He fell to his knees and poured out his heart, and as he concluded his prayer with the phrase ‘Thy will be done,’ he either felt or actually heard a voice that said, ‘It is not contrary to my will that Ida be healed.’

“Brother Romney rose to his feet quickly. It was past two o’clock in the morning, but he knew what he must do. Quickly he put on his tie and coat, then went out into the night to visit Ida in the hospital. He arrived shortly before three o’clock. His wife’s condition was unchanged. She did not stir as he placed his hands upon her pale forehead. With undeviating faith, he invoked the power of the priesthood in her behalf. He pronounced a simple blessing and then uttered the incredible promise that she would recover her health and her mental powers and would yet perform ‘a great mission’ upon the earth.

“Even though he did not doubt, Elder Romney was astonished to see Ida’s eyes open as he concluded the blessing. Somewhat stunned by all that had happened, he sat down on the edge of the bed only to hear his wife’s frail voice for the first time in months. She said, ‘For goodness’ sake, Marion, what are you doing here?’ He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He said, ‘Ida, how are you?’ With that flash of humor so characteristic of both of them, she replied, ‘Compared to what, Marion? Compared to what?’

“Ida Romney began her recovery from that very moment, soon left her hospital bed, and lived to see her husband sustained as a member of the First Presidency of the Church, ‘a great mission upon the earth’ indeed".

This is an amazing story. Let us all learn from it and become worthy to learn what we must learn from our Heavenly Father. He is ready to bless us with the revelation needed, we must just open our mouths and ask for it :)

Have a wonderful and fabulous week.

Elder Pinyon

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.