Who's your daddy?

One of my favorite books series that I read before the mission was Percy Jackson Olympians series.

It starts out with a boy that has a normal boring life. Then one day he ends up finding out that he is the son of a god. That is when his whole life changes. In five books you get to read as he goes on adventure after adventure and tries to use his godlike powers for good.

Now you might be asking yourself, "Elder Lewis that is all well and good but why are you taking the time to write about this book?" Well, that is because we are all children of God. We all have a divine heritage. God is not the father of our bodies, but he is the father of our spirit. Each one of us have spiritual gifts and talents. We can choose how to use these talents. In Romans 8:16-17 it says: 

"16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

So, it is up to us to see how we will choose to live our life. Just remember we are all God's children no matter what our choice is.

Why did he have to die?

So, today I want to talk about something that has been pressing on my mind for the past month. It is not an easy subject to talk about and yet it is something that effects each and every one of us. That is on the topic of death and what happens to us after we die.
So, to start understanding the purpose of death we must first understand the purpose for life. Before we were born we lived with God as Spirits. God is the father of our Spirits. He wants us to be happy and to have all that He has. So, He prepared a plan so that we would be able come to Earth, receive a body, learn and grow, and eventually return and live with Heavenly Father again. This was only going to be able to happen through Jesus Christ coming to earth and preforming the Atonement where he suffered and died for our sins.
So, because of all of that we are here. Each one of us is born and we each get the opportunity to live for a period of time and make choices. This brings me to the subject of why I chose to write about this subject. On October 7th Gene Watson, my grandfather on my mom's side died. Two weeks later Gordon Olsen, my other living grandfather died. I love them both so much. I am sad to see them leave this life.

The great news is that THIS IS NOT THE END. Like Jesus Christ, each one of us will one day be resurrected. Our Spirit's and our bodies will be brought back together and this time they will never again be separated. This news brings great happiness to my life. Even better is that the Gospel gives us something more. In the temple we perform sealings, where we make it so that our family will be united as a family forever. I know that I will be with my grandpas again. Death is part of the plan, but so is life, so are families, so is hope, joy love, and happiness. Some might ask, why did they have to die? I honestly don't know why God called them home when he did, but what I do know is that I will see them again.