Marking my Scriptures: Book of Mormon.

I've always been a little OCD about studying (ok about everything) so the first time I went through The Book Of Mormon, I knew I had to study it instead of just reading it. I need to break it down and make it mine so it would shine on through me.

Also, The Book fo Mormon in Spanish: Way beautiful!

Well, all the reading and marking was worth it. I can truly say that when I finished it (for the second time) it changed my life as much as I changed that book on the inside. Thats the beauty about our relation, it fed me words of wisdom and faith as I fed it the colors of the rainbow and scribbles with heart feelings and reflections.

Is started out as outlining important verses and passages that meant something but then it grew into something more personal and finally became this journal of emotions and reflections for me. It took me from a little lost kid to a true Heavenly Father's daughter. 

It was kind of a no brainer the way I started to mark it, it came so naturally for me... It was just wonderful.

I used a set of colored pencils made out of recycled newspapers that my sister bought for me in Canada, a flexible ruler, a pencil and eraser, A LOT of different sized post-its and pos-it flags; and the way I color coded everything was the following:

• I used Blue to mark important passages at first that meant something, or I needed to study further. This was my first marking tool when I had no clear base plan to mark this book. It was kind of my highlighter. But then I noticed I needed more tools to help me branch out more. 
• I the turned to Aqua to mark every time a prophet referred to God or He was mentioned in anyway. This allowed me to really dig into who is my savior and WOAH the things I learnt about him. God is awesome, God is great and I'll never get tired of repeating that. This color was used for commandments as well and everything that had to do with His mercy and love towards us.
• Next, I used Red for Satan and his works, temptation, sin, falseness, hypocrisy, lust and greed. Also, I used it to outline names of characters and important places that I would need to use on my Gospel and Latter-Day Church Journals. (They cover EVERYTHING I've ever learned from the church. It has maps, character descriptions, my take on the Gospel principles, drawings of important things and notes from magazine articles, General conference and all that. Will blog about it later)
• Yellow I used for any information that stood out in general that would not fit the other categories. This book is just to filled with amazing information its hard to keep it all organized under categories so this is for everything i need to remember that would just be general information.
• Light Green was used to highlight all the questions made for us to ponder about our lives and where we are heading. This pretty much make you ponder is what you do on a daily basis is Christ-like or if you are letting the temptation in the world rip piece by piece what you constructed along with God before. Every question that makes me reevaluate who I am and If I do everything through Jesus.
• Then, I used Dark Green for a section I titled "I believe". Its composed by every doctrinal lesson and teachings from the church. In here I find everything that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints is based upon. Moral values, creationism, worshiping, Family values etc. Needless to say it takes the biggest portion of my marking.
• Tanned color pencil was used for anything that had to do with humility and any act of faith. It blowed by mind to see the tales of faith and the sacrifices people in these stories had to go through. But they did it anyways because God is great and he provides.
• Last, I used Purple for anything that I felt spoke personally to me. Oh and how this book did. At some points I had to stop and take a look back because i would see complete pages colored purple. Along with my favorite verses on this sections, I used pos-it flags to give me easy access to that information.

I felt so bummed out when I finished it again, I felt the need to cry kind of as if I was waving goodbye to an old friend. But then again they joy that this book gave me is going to stay with me until the day I reunite with my Father in the Heavens.

Anyways, I started a little project: I found a spanish NLT Bible for $2.50. (Not my kind of bible but it was a bargain) so I'm going to read my entire KJV side by side comparing it to this one.

Use it as cross reference or something? I still have no clue what am I going to do with it But something is going to come up.

Now off to think of a marking plan for my bible. 

I wish...

Life has been so busy lately.

We all know what happens when life gets crazy like this... We usually feel overwhelmed by the pressures of worldly responsibilities and duties that most of the time we forget and leave behind what really matters: Heavenly father.

I accept that I've been a victim of this. I started a new job that barely leaves me time to sleep at night and hang out a couple of hours during the morning. When I get home late at night I come home so tired that I don't even want to eat my dinner just to lay quietly in my bed for a couple of minutes before I fall asleep. The thing is, I've always had sleeping issues so I always wake up tired and unrested in the morning so I just grab something to eat real quick and curl back up in my bed until I HAVE to get out and be productive.

I accept that I just didn't want to read or study my scriptures because I felt the weight of my daily responsibilities were not going to be lifted up by reading.

Boy, was I wrong.

I can't thank Heavenly Father enough for leading my heart to where it belongs, for experiencing this feeling that I was missing out on something the last couple of weeks and for making it clear that that thing I was missing were His scriptures.

I've never been happier. I give myself to God every morning, soak His word in and make it mine. I start the day in His word and promising I will do the best I can, like I always do and doing it for Him. In exchange I know that He will take care of me. Heavenly father is going to make everything ok for me as long as I don't forget why I do the things I do.

I just know it. I feel it deep inside me.

My love for my Heavenly Father burns inside me and lifts me up. I have no words to express what he has done for me. I wish every single person in the world could experience this.

I wish people knew of the power that God has and the love he feels for us.

How I wish...

Being Christ like

What is being Christ like?
Am I being Christ like?
What am I doing to be more like Him?
What do I seek? What's missing from my life now that I'm striving to be closer to Jesus Christ?

This one really made me think. I know I still have a long way to go to be more like Christ and will never get close to how perfect He is. But I want to try!
I'd say that the most important things that my life is missing are love and patience towards people that I encounter daily. I need to let go of anger and instead fill my heart with love. By opening my heart and allowing myself to feel love for all mankind I can see past my own interests and needs and serve those who need it the most.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself    -Lev 19:18

Christ encountered all types of people when he walked this earth. He met a few who wanted to follow Him and believed and then there where those who opposed greatly to His words but He managed to treat them with respect and expressed love for them all equally.

That's a really brave thing to do! It requires for you to be above earthly things to develop that virtue and I could never in my life imagine myself not getting annoyed or irritated at some point. But that is what makes Him great. He not just treated people with respect but He loved them. He loves us all. So much so that he suffered and gave his life for all mankind.
He did it all with a loving heart.

Would you give your life for mankind like he did?
Would you suffer so that others won't have to?
Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself?

Christ suffereth because of His loving kindness towards men.   -1 Nephi 19:9

Finally, patience is a great Christ like attribute to work on. Being patient will bring a lot of blessings and by waiting and enduring, when those blessings finally come, you will get to savor them and enjoy them so much more!

In your patience possess ye your souls.   -Luke 21:19

So I ask you now, what do YOU seek? 


Week 2: Day 1. 365 Days walking with the savior.

I knew

It was never a struggle for me as an Investigator to try and get used to a whole set of new beliefs because as soon as I allowed the missionaries in to teach me I knew I had found the place where I really needed to be. I knew I found home in my heart.

You see, I've never been religious. I was raised as a catholic but my parents never really cared for religion. When I was in 6th grade I decided to call myself an atheist and pretty much rebelled against everything and everyone. That's when the bad choices started rolling in. My life was a mess.

Now, as a 21 year old, I've grown more sensitive and aware of my needs. I knew my life needed a new direction and it just happens that LDS came to save me.
I read right to the half of the Book of Mormon before I even had my first visit from the missionaries and kept tons of small Moleskines full of information I thought might be worth keeping. But oh boy, I really had no idea about anything!

On my first visit, in came the tallest Argentinian boy and his Chilean partner. We instantly hit it off. This guys were so surprised at how much I knew. I had done research by myself for about 3 months before I reached out to them. They taught me so many things that were not on my notes. They taught me how to pray and talk to heavenly father, they explained the Plan of Salvation. They explained how there is an amazing being in heaven that loves me and cares about me and is there with me with every step I take.

That seemed crazy to me. I never grasped the entire concept of God's existence and right there it hit me. I knew it. I felt it. He is with me at all times. He hears me when I talk to him and answers to me when I need it. He is willing to redeem my sins and save my life.

He is just awesome and I love him so much.


That's why I want to devote my life to study his word, to try to be more Christ-like and to be deserving of meeting again with him. Today I can't see myself going a day without communicating with my Father in Heaven, or without reading, studying, understanding and applying the scriptures to my life. Even though I'm not yet an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, I want it with all my heart, and I strive to be the best person, because this church, this one true church changed my life and my heart.