Come Unto Christ

     You know that time when you all of a sudden remember something that you used to do, and now want to start doing it again?  Well that happened to me the other day.  Now while that may seem like a bizarre set of circumstances, this actually did happen to me and I would love to share it with you.
     So, the other day I received some news of a friend of mine who was going through a really rough time in her life.  It seemed to her like everything was adding up against her, and there seemed to be no end in sight for all the pain that was hers to bear alone.  After learning about her struggles, I decided to do just about the only thing I can do out here on a mission for her, which is to fast and pray.  After I started my fast, I put her on the back burner of my mind so I could continue to focus on the work that was ahead of me that night, because I still had two lessons to help teach and people to help bring closer to Christ.  So, I went forth unwavering in my determination to do the very best that I had been called to do:  inviting others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  In short, I focused solely on other people's needs and not on what I wanted or needed.  Indeed, my heart was turned outward in my attempt to be as Christ-like as I could be.  Now, I really did not notice all of this until a few days afterwards when I was writing in my journal.
     Tonight as I was writing in my journal, I was in a reflective type of mood, connecting the dots of my actions to who I want to be in the future.  As I was doing this, I was remembering the night I just described a tiny portion of, and I started to understand a little more about how we can have true happiness in this life.  In a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar that I watched while I was in the MTC he says, "Christ always turned out when the natural man turns in."  True happiness is being able to live with God again, and to live with God again, we have to become like Jesus Christ.  To become like Christ, we have to be completely unselfish, and have charity in all that we do.  This night gave me an example of why this is so very important to have charity towards my fellowmen and to do all that I can to serve them.