This past week has been exciting. 

It has been discovered that I might have gastritis through getting a camera shoved down my throat!

Tomorrow I will have another test to figure more out! They will feed me radioactive eggs and watch me digest them! I'm really hoping for super powers.

Nausea and pain continue, but we are closer to a conclusion!

We had an incredible District Meeting on Wednesday. It was SO guided by the Spirit. We resolved almost conflicts within us and ensured the prevention of others. It was just full of the Spirit. The room felt like the Temple.

That's all that's happened with me really. We've been trying to find some new people to teach, and to help Members to improve their missionary efforts. 

The relationship between faith and commandments is confusing. There are scriptures in the Bible that suggest that You only need faith (Galatians2:16) and scriptures that say you need to follow the commandments (Matthew 5, Matthew 7:21). Which is it? Both.

The answer to that question can be found in The Book of Mormon. I actually found this this morning! 

Alma 25:16

16 Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come.

The purpose of the commandments is to help strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. As we obey God's commandments we give him more opportunities to bless us, increasing our faith in a way that nothing else can.

Salvation is a gift that can only be attained because of and through Jess Christ. That is a gift that no law could give us. Only He could give that gift to us through his Atoning Sacrifice. But the law is STILL a huge necessary part of the Gospel. Moses established a law. Christ honored it and made it even HARDER. (see Matthew 5) 

There are laws, but we will all fall short of them. Christ and His atonement pick us back up, offer us forgiveness, and get us on the path again, and to give us a solid foundation. 

Matthew 7:24-27

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Our faith needs action and commandments to survive this crazy world that can and will attack our faith in Jesus Christ. 

James 2:26

 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

I know that as we have faith in Jesus Christ and work to become more like Jesus Christ through our works, we will eventually become perfected in Him. 

Honoring God

Elder Decker