One Word. 21 Days.

Ok.... Sorry, but I'm cheating a little this week. Two blog posts in one!

Inspired by one of my friend's mission blogs, I decided to take up the
One Word Challenge. One would challenge is that where you pick one
word to live by for a year. My one word is going to be:

EVERYDAY.





"Success is small disciplines repeated every day." That is a quote
from Pres. Anderson of the mission presidency of the Washington
Vancouver mission. He is probably one of the most successful people I
know. And this is what he lives by. His favorite saying is "Everyday
Everyday Everyday."

Alma 37:6 reads:

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say
unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to
pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

Now I'm not so sure about you, but I can't think of a single small and
simple person who just wakes up one morning and says "Man, I think I'm
going to confound a wise person today." That just doesn't happen.

Small and simple people do small and simple things. Little things.
Like watching that football till you tuck it in. It's the smallest and
simplest things that make a difference. And so, I make you this life
changing promise. If you truly believe that you have a divine
potential, here is what I want you to do:

3 things, super simple.

1. Every morning and every night, I want you to say a simple prayer to
your Heavenly Father asking Him what your divine potential is.

2. Every morning and every night, do 10 push-ups.

3. Every morning and every night, read 5 verses in the Bible or the
Book of Mormon.

Do these three things for 21 days. It takes 21 days to establish a
pattern, to start a habit. President Anderson gave us this challenge
and asked us to read a sheet of paper every day for 21 days. If I get
time, I'll post it.
This is the 21 day challenge. I promise you that as you do those
things for 21 days, that you will see a magnificent difference in your
life.

"Your commitment to excellence is directly proportional to the quality
of your life." - Vince Lombardi

If you want to improve part of your life, it all starts with you. A
journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, so make it a great
one.

And remember, God loves small and simple things.

#everyday #IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE #21daychallenge #1word

What is Small and Simple?

What is small and simple?





I get up, every morning at the same time. Work out, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. Start studying at 8. I study the scriptures, the doctrines, the language. Then we go out. We knock on doors, share cards, contact people who have interest in the message we share, and teach them. It's not the most glamorous lifestyle. It's frustrating at times.

But it is my life.

When I was playing on my high school football team, my position coach (I played wide receiver) was very adamant about one thing: doing the little things. Things like making sure when you lined up, that you had the right foot on the line. Or that when you caught the ball, you looked at it till you tucked it away. (We even had to say what we saw on the ball when we tucked it.) Why was he so focused on things like that?

Because the little things make a big difference.

It's the same thing with us. We might feel unimportant at times, like
"Why would God spend time on me? I'm not that important, right?" Well,
let's think of my football example. If I had the wrong foot on the
line, I would have to take an extra step to run my route. That will
put me about 2 yards off of where I need to be. The ball gets thrown to where I should be, gets picked off, which may lead to a touchdown for the other team. Then we lose....

All because I didn't spend the time on one little thing.

I love sports because I can relate life to them so well. Just like that little example, if God, our Heavenly Father, didn't take time to make sure he did the little things right, what would happen?
This is why I know that God cares about Me. This is really what being Small and Simple is.


The #IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE movement is all about this fact. We are Phenomenal by nature. We are created to do amazing things, and we all have a divine purpose. There are over 7 Billion people on the planet, (that REALLY makes us feel small, Huh?) but we each have God-given talents and abilities. And when we figure out what those really are, we can do anything.


Because "[We] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [us]." (Philippians 4:13)

and also "Yea, I know that I am nothing, as to my strength, I am weak, therefore, I will not boast of myself, I will boast of my God, for in His strength, I can do all things..." (Alma 26:12)


Find Out who you really are. Be Amazing.

Be Small and Simple

#IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE

#IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE

WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION

I may not be too much.

I am Small and Simple.

I may not be the best.

But I can do amazing things.

 I am Small and Simple.

I don't need to rely on myself.

I rely on something more.

I am Small and Simple.

You might think I'm foolish.

You might think I'm insane.

But I know that I can do this.

 I am Small and Simple.

So what does this all mean?
We see these athletes on TV who do things that seem superhuman. We see celebrities and actors and singers and models that are unnaturally "beautiful." We see incredible people do incredible things all around us, and almost always we think that we could never ever be that kind of people.

Well, I don't know about you, But I ain't thinking like that anymore.

 Because I know what I really am.

I AM SMALL AND SIMPLE.

I'm nothing terribly special. I'm pretty good at sports. I have a decent singing voice. I can hold my own on the dance floor. I'm terrible at remembering names. I'm not even very good at blogging.

But I am a Son of God.

He is my strength, His grace and mercy give me the power to do everything I can to bring about good. But I'm not the only Small and Simple one here.

You are to.

But by Small and Simple things are great things come.

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise (Alma 37:6)

Be a part of this revolution. Comment below or Post how you are small and simple on my Facebook page with the Hashtag #IamSmallandSimple   (Find me on Facebook: Elder Kyle Ward or @ https://www.facebook.com/kyle.ward.503)

Funnels and Chains

Sorry for the delay everyone! I've been really busy, but I'm excited for these upcoming blog posts. I've decided to talk about addiction recovery, obedience and the Atonement.

If you're LDS, and you go to High School (or went to), or have ever been to High School, you'd probably hear these words at least a hundred times:

"Man, in your church, You can't do anything!"

or this:

"I could never be Mormon, you can't enjoy life!"

Really, they're just saying that all the things that they do that they think are fun (Smoking and drinking, and doing drugs and.... well... other stuff) are strict "No-nos" in the Church and in the Kingdom of God. We know that they are, but but sometimes we don't understands why.

Well, Imagine you have two funnels. One you hold right side up in your hand, skinny part at the bottom. The other, upside down with the fat part at the bottom. Now keep that visual in your head. (Unless you are actually holding funnels, then you can keep holding on... I guess...? I don't know. I'm just words on your computer screen....)

Sometimes we think of the rules or the commandments of God as a way of God just wanting to mess with us. Sometimes we think its to deny us happiness. Sometimes we think that these "commandments" don't even come from God, that they're just some thing our parents told us to hold us back, and now that we're grown up, they shouldn't apply to us.

Well, I have news for y'all. God is OUR (yes, even YOUR) LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER. He Loves us. ALL of us. Do you think your father would ever leave you astray?

No, of course not!

Sometimes, though, we never see it as that. We see these "rules" as simply handcuffs that don't let us do anything that we want to. Their just ways our parents use to control us.

But, we never truly see the big picture.



Before we came to this life, we lived as spirits with our Father in Heaven. He presented us a plan for us to come to Earth, receive a body, learn and grow, so that we can return to live with Him and become more like our Father.  Part of the plan was something we call AGENCY, or the ability to choose between right and wrong. He KNEW that to learn and grow, we would have to make mistakes, because that's part of learning. He also knew that if we made mistakes, we would not be able to live with God again (see 1 Nephi 15:34, see also Psalms 24:3-4). He provided us a Savior, to suffer for our sins so that we will be able to live with him again. But, when Our Father in Heaven asked "Whom shall I send?" Two volunteers came forward, One presented a plan to give us freedom to choose. One presented a plan to make sure that we would ALL get back.

Believe it or not, the one who presented the plan to make sure that we all get back was not our Savior, it was Satan.  Which means that if he got his way, we would have no choice. Satan is the enemy of choice.

Addictions are just one of the tools Satan uses to destroy agency. Agency, or the freedom to choose, is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father. It is by the righteous use of this agency that we are able to return to live with our Him and our families for Eternity. And so, this is why God gives us these commandments. Not to restrict us. Actually its quite the opposite. Remember the funnels? The One that we had big side up is how we could describe Satan's temptations. We have all these things, all these different temptations, and we think that they keep us free but really... they just lead us to one place. Addictions take away our choice, and lead us away from our Heavenly Father. The other funnel, the one that starts skinny at the top, and gets bigger at the bottom we think of as the commandments. If we keep the commandments, though it may seem strict, they act as guard rails that lead us to a life full of freedom.


That's great! We should all keep the commandments then, right?


Well, yes. But there are some of us who may have slipped up. We went down the wrong funnel and now the chains of sin now drag behind us. I'm not just talking about a smoking problem. I'm not just talking about a porn addiction or drinking or drugs. Maybe our addictions are something completely different. But the principles, techniques, and mindsets are the same. Its through the Atonement and repentance that we can be free from our addictions. That includes man's addiction to sin.

If you've gone down this path, DON'T WORRY. There is hope. We'll talk over the next couple weeks about what we can do to get back on the path of righteousness and how we can be free of these addictions. There are many techniques we can use to become free of these things. Part 2 coming!

I think I'm addicted to Mac and Cheese. Maybe I should read up?

One of the few sunny days here in the Pacific Northwest

eagle cheese.(Wise words from Elder Carpenter. Check out his blog @ joshuatcarpenter.blogspot.com)