Monday, October 22, 2012

What a week. - Email 10.22.12


"Why do we all do the things that we do, when we know the things that we know?"
Think about it. Why do we do that?
 "The present is an age of pleasure seeking, and men are losing their sanity in the mad rush for sensations that do but excite and disappoint...the devil is busier than he has ever been in the course of human history, in the manufacture of pleasures, both old and new; and these he offers for sale in most attractive fashion, falsley labeled, "HAPPINESS". Follow one of the purchasers as he goes off gloatingly with his gaudy packet, and watch his as he opens it. What finds he inside the gilded wrapping? He has expected fragrant happiness, but uncovers only an inferior brand of pleasure, the stench of which is nauseating...Happiness leaves no bad after taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction, it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and if indulged to the EXTREME, it brings DEGRADATION and DESTRUCTION...Happiness is not akin with levity, nor is it one with light-minded mirth. It springs from the deeper fountains of the SOUL and is not infrequently accompanied by tears. Have you ever been so happy that you have had to weep?"
We waste so much time in things that don't matter. Indulging ourselves in the pleasures or treasures of the world. "Seek ye first for the kingdom of God". If we know that this life is a probationary period where we are being prepared to meet God again someday and be judged according to our actions and works in this life...WHY do we WASTE so much time!!??!?
This past week I have been doing alot of thinking on my past. Why did I care so much about what others thought about me? Why did I care about that party that I went to? Why did i care about that silly highschool relationship that I was in instead of my family? Why did I check facebook, and twitter and instagram so much when I could have been doing something else? Why did I not spend more time with people who truly cared about me? Why did I not study the scriptures more often? Why did I pursue relationships with people who couldn't care less about me now that we have moved on instead of furthering a relationship with my Heavenly Father who wants the very best for me?! Do you see where I am going with this? So much of our time is wasted in the things that we pursue. Sure they are fun, but are we balanced in the things that we choose to fill our time with. Sure many of us are good...but can we be better until we can someday achieve "best'?
My heart is filled with compassion and love as I continue to lose myself in the service of my God. That is true happiness. God's love is true happiness, His approval is true confidence. Serve Him with all your heart might mind and strength and trust Him to mold you into the person that He wants you to become. His ways are higher than ours. Don't just believe IN God, but rather BELIEVE HIM when He tells us that we will be taken care of if we serve Him only. You cannot serve two masters.
So much is on my mind. I have so little time to write and tell you the things that I am learning. Truly there is no better feeling then becoming converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ through faith in His atonement.

This week was really really difficult. I have never been so tired in my whole entire life. Somehow my Heavenly Father's "grace is sufficient" for me because he is literally strengthinging me. This past week, people have yelled at us, sworn at us, tried to seduce us...you name it. No one wanted to listen. God was really trying our faith. The key to all this is faith in Him. We know that He will ALWAYS provide for us as long as we are being obedient to Him and following the propmptings of the Holy Ghost. Sure enough He did provide, "but after the trial of our faith". :) I love the people of Oklahoma. This ward that I am in, the Edmond 3rd ward is so amazing. SO AMAZING and I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. They are the angels that God is sending to prepare the people for the missionaries so that we can teach them. They are simply amazing. :) I love being a missionary. I love being stared at everywhere I go...(go figure, its dallin cutler here)....just kidding, I love the spirit I feel out here and I love how God is humbling me out here. Goodness gracious I have never felt so worthless when I try to do things without Him. If we are not humble, we are screwed. Simple as that. Pride is the universal sin that will eventually destroy you. Just be humble. Please.
So here's a cool thing I learned that I felt prompted to share. The main point is this: KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT INSURE SALVATION. EVER. This story is about Jesus Christ and how He went about doing good. He went about the streets performing miralces and casting out devils. In Luke 4:41 it says
 "And devils also came out of many, crying out and saying 'Thou art Christ the Son of God'. And He rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that He was Christ."
Wow. What an amazing eye opener. As Jesus cast the devils out of peoples bodies, they bore TESTIMONY of Him!! They knew that he was Jesus Christ, they knew what He had to offer!!! Even devils and satan have a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. They have a testimony...or I guess you could say...a knowledege. Now here is what is amazing!! Don't we all have testimonies of Jesus Christ? Weren't those actually devils who did as well?! Are we devils? Of course not, but when the devils bore testimony of Jesus Christ, was their nature changed?! NO! They were still devils. What do we learn from this? A testimony is GOOD, but conversion is BEST. Testimonies do not insure salvation, but conversion does!! We must CHANGE our nature by being converted to Jesus Christ through a testimony. A testimony is where it all begins, now we must "throw off the natural man and become converted" to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by following the Doctrine of Christ. Faith unto repentance, baptisms, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and then enduring to the end. Alot of us know who Jesus Christ is, and we think that is enough to be "saved". It is not. We must become converted by becoming more like Him and following in His footsteps. Develop charity for others, serve others, be obedient... Be like HIM!! Which leads me to my last quote...."Know that the Gospel is true but also, be true to the gospel". Read Elder Bednars talk from last general conference. BECOME CONVERTED (Mosiah 27:26).
I know this Gospel is true. Conversion is a lifetime process. We must STRIVE to become like Christ. We must STRIVE to be better every single day. If we know this, go out and DO!! Be different people through and in Christ!!
I love all of you guys!! Thank you so much for all your emails!! I read every single one of them!! If you want me to write back, you need to give me an address because I can't email back...rules are rules, even "silly" rules. :)
Time is going by way to fast, don't waste it!! Change the world!! One smile and good act at a time :)
Love,
Elder Cutler
p.s #taylorGangOrDie ;) hashtag...long live LIVERPOOL.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Monday, October 15, 2012

Almost 2 months?! - Email 10.15.12


Hey everyone!!
The weeks here seem to be going by like days. I can't even begin to tell you how much of a blur this whole thing is. Thank you to all who are writing me. I promise I will write back to you but the only day I can is Monday and then it takes awhile to get there. Anyways...what a week. I don't quite remember what really happened. All I remember is how I feel ever. Still the same happiness like usual but it does get harder and harder each day to see so many people excersise their agency and turn down the thing you love the most. It's sad but we have to remember that everyone has a choice to choose for their own and no matter what you say or do, you will never be able to convince them of truth. That is the spirits job and that's why it's so important to live worthy of the spirit in everyday lives. If we do not have the spirit, we will never be succesful. Plain and simple.
So I have two quick stories that I would like to share with everyone. They both touched my life in a way I didn't think was possible.
So it was thursday morning and me and Elder Hanes were planning our day out and what we wanted to accomplish. We got a text from a member to go visit a less active member in the ward so we made it a point to get there at some point. So we left our apartment ready to go find people and knock some doors as well as to visit the less active member in our ward. On our way there we both recieved the STRONG prompting to go into this neighborhood and knock 5 doors. So we did and NO ONE answered the door. We didn't understand why we had recieved that prompting from the spirit to go and knock the doors because nothing came out of it...or so we thought. So we kept on walking and I kid you not, we said at the same time that our stomachs began to hurt. Really badly actually and Elder Hanes felt like he needed to destroy a bathroom really quickly...hahaha so we kept walking to find a bathroom. We saw a subway and were going to go in there but then I felt like we needed to cross the street and go into hobby lobby which was much further away. Well we decided to listen to the Spirit again and Elder Hanes was able to go to the bathroom...for like 5 million hours...haha jk. But It was awhile. After, we were about to walk back the way we came from but Elder Hanes said that we should probably go see another less active that he had just thought of. So we kept walking further from our apartment and crossed the street again. As we crossed the street someone whistled at us and waved and we thought nothing of it. We kept walking, and this guy pulled us over on the side of the road and said, "you have no idea how perfect of timing this is, get in my car, I have to go show you someone I just met". We got in his car and he told us about a lady he jsut met and explained he was a member of the church. While in the store he felt prompted to help this lady out and long sotry short they talked about the gospel for 2 hours in the store. So we went back to the store and sure enough this lady was just about to get in her car and leave. We ran up to her and started talking to her. She began by ssaying "you are going to think I am crazy Elders I priomise" so we thought she was gonna be some nutty crack job like we sometimes find in OKC haha. But then she started talking about Prophets and how God had told her that there was a prophet on the earth who had God's authority today and that God had restored a "new Church" in this day and that she was looking for it. We were THRILLED and SHOCKED to say the least. What a miracle. There is so much to the story so if you want to know more, email me or write me and I can let you know, but I can't put it on the internet. We ended up talking to her and giving her a book of mormon and we will see what comes out of it :) Just think that if we had not spent time knocking those doors in the beginning or crossing the street and going the long way to hobby lobby, we would have missed this opportunity. It goes to show that God really knows where we are every single minute of the day. He has everything planned out by every single SECOND. Listen to every prompting you get from the spirit and act because you never know what will come from it in the long run especially. I testify to you all today that God is an ALL KNOWING and all POWERFUL God. He knows each and every one of us personally and knows where we are and what we are going through. "HIs ways are higher than our ways". Trust Him, He will provide for your needs.
Second story. We had been visting with another less active member in the ward. She hadn't been to church in who knows how long. When I first met her, she wasn't in a good position at all to say the least. Like really in a very bad situation and she wanted nothing to do with us. We kept going over nonetheless and showing her how much we truly cared for her. We really did love her and want the best for her. Little by little she began to talk to us. Then last week I committed her to read the Book of Mormon every single day and not miss a day. I made her pinky promise and we stamped it, don;t worry. So we checked back on her every other day and she hadn't missed a day and each day we saw her, she had a little more light about her and she was happier each time we saw her. We had been trying to get her back to church every single sunday but everytime we called her to wake her up she would hang up the phone on us. haha. So this sunday came around and we called her again but to my surprise she answered and said that she was on her way to church!! :) We were both shocked. She got to church sure enough and sat with us. It was fast sunday and so everyone was bearing their testimonies. I leaned over and nudged her and said "your next" and laughed a little. She said nooooo way!!! And then 10 minutes after she leaned over and said "I changed my mind" and then she hopped right up and sat on the stand. When she bore her testimony, I could feel the spirit work through her. I could feel Jesus Christ's and Heavenly Fathers love fill the room. It was so sweet and such an amazing experience. She is now in the process of quitting smoking after smoking her whole life. (shes in her 50's) She is changing her life around. The Book of Mormon changes people. God changes people. The spirit changes people. Let it change you like it is changing her. You will be happier. Miracles will happen in your life. Take note of them!! We are so blessed and God loves us so much. Jesus Christ is begging us to "come follow me". Choose Christ. You will be happier. I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Last thing I want to tell you about. Something I just remembered. It is the principle of "Choosing Christ". As missionaries you have NO idea how hard Satan works on us. He does everything he can to put thoughts into our heads and to tempt us to do stupid things. You would be shocked at some of the stories I have already. So how do we combat satan? He is able to put thoughts into our heads. He is able to influence us, but how do we combat it? We always have agency. Satan cannot dwell in holy places. He is not ALLOWED to. It is law. Therefore, when  a thought is put into your head or when you feel tempted to do something you know you shouldn't do, to get him to leave, you simply testify of Jesus Christ and he is REQUIRED by God to leave. So in your head simply state, "I choose Christ" and he must leave. Sometimes the circumstances call for firmness and in those occasions we must verbally say it, but once we testify of Christ, he is REQUIRED to leave. It works I promise you. :) Everyone always says, ""sing a hymm or somethins", but if we do this, you will find it is a very useful tool. I don't quite know why I told you all this, but I felt like I needed to :) It would've been helpful to me! :)
If you want to email me my email is dallin.cutler@myldsmail.net but I can't email back. i will have to write back. Other than that, send pictures, I love pictures of things back home to show to everyone out here :) Love you guys!! I pray for you all daily!! :)
Anyways, I love this Gospel and I will never tire of saying it. I will never tire of serving my Heavenly Father. I am indebted to Him for all that I am. Without Him I am nothing. I know that Jesus Christ loves me and atoned for my sins. He knows me personally and that is so comforting that I can draw strength from his infinite atonement. I testify to you that it is truly power. I love the Book of Mormon, it changes lives. I also know that there is a living Prophet called of God on the earth today. Of this I testify to you all in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Cutler
p.s we had our first tornado warnings...so dope. I will send pics of the clouds. yoooo. love you all!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Week 3 - Email 10.8.12


Wow. What a week! I don't know where time is going and I honestly don't even know how someone could be this happy. I cannot believe how much I was missing out on almost my whole life. I regret not being completely obedient, I regret not serving others and I regret being such a selfish jerk most of the time!! To everyone and anyone: I am so sorry for how cocky/prideful/arrogant/mean I ever was. Seriously though. I hope you will all forgive me because I love you all so much.

So, where to begin. What an amazing week. Miracles happening left and right. I am SO blessed to be a missionary, but not just that, I am so blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I love my Savior more than anything else in this world. I want each and everyone of you to know that.

So this week started off great. I can't believe how much Kool Aid there is in Oklahoma. Apparently, it's still in business cause everyone drinks that here haha!! I had no idea Kool Aid still even existed. Yoso.  (you only serve once). But everyone in Oklahoma is so nice. Really, they are just geniune  down to earth people...until you get to their door! :) Man, I have never had so many doors slammed in my face. It is hilarious sometimes!! I feel bad for some of those people. We knocked on one mans door, and we asked if we could say a prayer with him and his family and then be on our way. He responded "I am a Christian, I love Jesus Christ already, I don't want to hear what you have to say ever and I think you guys are going to hell. I only pray with people who believe the exact same thing as me." and then slammed the door in my face. I laughed so hard!! How ironic!! What a christian attitude. Anyways, not everyone is like that, most people are very nice about it at first. But let me tell you, I absolutely love sharing what I know!! I love talking to the weird people you meet in neighborhoods and on the streets. I have some really really weird/creepy stories that I can tell you if you write me personally, other than that, I can't put them on a public place. :) haha.

So because everyone is so wealthy out here and so busy, they don't really have "time" for us usually and so its hard to find investigators while tracting. So Tuesday rolls along and me and Elder Hanes had been working our butts off. We needed to find some people to teach. We knew God would provide and so we simply asked Him. Before we walked out the door, we said a prayer like we always do, but this one was different. I prayed with all my heart and asked Heavenly Father to put someone in our path that needed what we had to share. 5 minutes after walking out the door we were biking on the side of the road and some guy pulled into a parking lot and yelled at us to come over here. We were like "oh great, he;s gonna want to argue". We pulled in and he started asking questions about what we believe and why we believe it. Then all of a sudden, he says "let me give you my number, I want you guys to come and teach me what you believe, I have been looking for this for a long time, what do you want to eat? I'll feed you too and you can come over and teach me"....we were like...wow. What a miracle. God answers prayers. Often not as quickly as that, but he does answer them, ALWAYS.

One other miracle that we thought was pretty cool had to do with that guy we found sitting in church last week randomly. He had hair down to his shoulders and he had a beard and was dressed like some skater. So he committed to baptism and we went back on Wednesday night to teach him wondering if he would still be interested. Sure enough, there he was. We taught him again and were so impressed with how he was coming along. He had actually read alot of the Book of Mormon and he had begun to pray. We invited him to general conference and then on sunday we get there 30 minutes early and this random guy is sitting in church already waiting for us and he has this big smile on his face. It was the same guy we had been teaching except he had cut all of his hair off and shaved and had bought a suit. The Book of Mormon changes lives. Jesus Christ's atonement literally changes people "into knew creatures" as alma says in Mosiah. We couldnt believe what had happened to him. It was so cool. He also asked to move his baptism date up a week earlier. Talk about miracles.

Heavenly Father truly watches over and protects us. He is so full of love and mercy and His tender mercies are upon all of us only if we watch for them. He is a God of miracles because He is the same today, yesterday and forever. He is God. I know there is a God. All you "atheists" out there...if I may be so bold, you are wrong. Flat out wrong. There is a God and you CANNOT deny it. You are living and breathing. Give thanks to Him that created you. There is a God. I know it, I know it, I know it. If you want physical proof that there is a God, look around you. He is everywhere and in all things. if you want spiritual proof and physical proof, get on your knees and pray in the name of Christ and ask if He loves you. You will get an answer. I promise. I dare you to try.

Challenge to all reading this mormon or not mormon, atheist or not atheist...READ THE BOOK OF MORMON again. It will change you and bring you closer to Christ. It truly testifies of Jesus Christ and will make you feel good. "By their fruits ye shall know them" Nothing that is bad can make you feel good. Just like a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Read it and pray about it. I challenge all of you.

Next, I want to bear my testimony to all of you reading this letter. Words will definitely fail me in my attempt to express my feelings right now but it is the best I can do right now. If there is anything you should take from this letter, know this. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior, He loves you and suffered not only for your sins, but for your guilt, sadness, pains, and lonliness. He descended below all in Gethsemane and on the cross and ascended above all in His ressurrection. He experienced EVERYTHING. We can only be saved through faith in Him. As we have faith in Him we will desire to repent and be baptized in His name and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then we must endure to the end. We must take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and become converted. We must follow Him. I know this to be true just like I know that I am alive. I cannot deny it. When we take upon Jesus Christ's name, we will be happier than we have ever been. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It is my best friend out here. I know that a Prophet is on the earth today and directly speaks to God. I know that prayers are answered as long as we align our will with the Father's. He never withdraws from us, we withdraw from Him. I know with all my heart all of these things are true. "Excersise a particle of faith and experiment upon he words which I have written" pray to know if what I said is true. Experience it for yourselves I beg you!! :) For your own sake!! :) It will change you for the better. I cannot explain to you how much it has changed me. I cannot believe the person I once was and how sad and lost I was. Even if you may not think you need this in your life right now, you're wrong. And please, if you already know this, do it better!! We can always improve. Become converted!! :) It is a lifelong process and I cannot wait to serve my Savior my whole life. It has changed me and I couldn't be happier. I don't even care about soccer anymore...(yeah it shocks me too) I am not worried!! My heavenly father will take care of me no matter what and I will do what He wants me to do and so should you!! :) I say all of this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Well enough preaching for me....sikeeee!! I want to hear from all of you, and not everyday things like who is winnning the world series and stuff. I want to know how your lives are!! I want to know how each day you are serving others!! I want to know how you are coming closer to Jesus Christ!! Tell me!! I love hearing your testimonies!! Thank you to all who have shared, they have helped reaffrim mine even stronger!!

I love you all!! I love Oklahoma and I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. Trust them. They know all. Remember who you are and choose the right. It's worth it. Obedience doesn't restrict you, it blesses you and makes you free :)!!

See you in 23/22 months.

Elder Cutler

p.s, my Companion Elder Hanes is a good lookin guy. He's only got one year left. Just sayin, ;) hit him up. Its my same address, just send it to Elder Hanes. k baiiiii

Sunday, October 7, 2012