Day 200 Keeping a Journal- 10-14-06 pt.1

Another 100 days have come and gone. My mission seems to be going by so fast. To commemorate Day 200 in my journal, I'm going to discuss journals. Today's entry will also be a basis for the talk that I have been asked to give at Zone Conference on Monday. Alrighty, then. Let's get to it!

Journals: Of Far More Worth Than Gold

I'd like to begin by repeating a quote that I wrote in my journal way back on Day 2. "Knowledge carefully recorded is knowledge available in time of need. Spiritually sensitive information should be kept in a sacred place that communicates to the Lord how you treasure it. This practice enhances the likelihood of you receiving further light." - Elder Richard G. Scott

Preach My Gospel frequently asks that we use a study journal to help us understand, clarify and remember what we are learning. We should review our study journals to recall spiritual experiences, see new insights, and recognize our growth both as missionaries and individuals.

It's no small secret that I love writing in my journal, but it did not start out that way. In fact, before my mission, I never kept a journal. Where did this sudden desire to record my history come from? It's hard to say, but now that I've started I have no intention of stopping.

Helen Keller who was both blind and deaf said, "I don't want to live in a hand-me-down world of others experiences. I want to write about me, my discoveries, my fears, my feelings about me." That's one aspect of it. Writing in my journal let's me talk about how I feel and what I think.

"Write...your goings and comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies." - President Spencer W. Kimball As we are committed to record these things, we'll be made more aware of them as they happen in our lives.

We are often encouraged to apply the scriptures to us. One of the things that Preach My Gospel has suggested is to "substitute our own name in a verse of scripture to personalize it. The scripture verse I've used to apply to me and to remind me of the importance of journal writing is D&C 47:1 (This is the Lord speaking...) "Behold, it is expedient in me that my servant (your name here) should write and keep a regular history,..." This applies to each of us.

The Book of Mormon reminds us of the importance of keeping records. One reason is so we can remember. Alma reminds his son Helaman that written records have enlarged the memory of his people. Alma 37:8

On Day 178, I talked about building up a spiritual air force to help yourself stay in control of your thoughts. When we read the scriptures, the principles that we have read come back to us like a boomerang. Hey, now. There's a thought. Everyone remember the old joke, "What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick. " What if you put two sticks together? What does it become? A boomerang!

In the Old Testament, in the Book of Ezekiel, it talks about the stick of Judah (Bible) and the stick of Joseph (Book of Mormon) becoming one in the Lord's hand. I've been studying this chapter recently (Ezekiel 37) It's really amazing. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel, his fellows, and will put them with him even the stick of Judah and make them one stick and they shall be one in mine hand." Ezekiel 37:19

I look forward every morning to when I can "catch the boomerang" again by reading from the scriptures; both the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph. My personal study gives me a chance to build up my spiritual air force by bringing to remembrance all the things I've learned and why? Because someone took the time to write them down.

Now you might say, "Elder Pierce, that's all well and good to keep records, when you are writing down the commandments of God, and I know I should keep a journal. I just don't have anything to say." Bunkum and Tummy rot, says I. That's no excuse. I know quote from Frank Smith's Myths of Writing. "Thoughts are created in the act of writing. [It is a myth that] you must have something to say in order to write. [The reality is] you often need to write to have something to say. Thought comes when writing and writing may never come if it's postponed until we have something to say. The assertion of write first, see what you had to say later, applies to all manifestations of written languages, to letters as well as to diaries and journals.

We all know what happens when people keep insufficient records. In 3rd Nephi when the Savior comes and ministers unto the Nephite people, he asks them to bring forth the records that they had kept. "And when Nephi had brought forth the records and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon them and said: Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so? And his disciples answered him and said, Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to they words, and they were fulfilled.

And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them? And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written. And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written, therefore it was written according as he commanded." 3 Nephi 23: 8-13

Without any record, things would come and go...memories would fade and things would be forgotten. (If something doesn't exist in the here and now, [and no records are kept], it would be just as if it never existed in the first place."- Gordon Rosewater, The Big O.)