Prisoners

6/25/12

Hello Family!

It is great to be able to email you. One quick note, if anyone
receives or has received an email from me at a weird time, like 1:30
AM, its just a delay in the email. Its not me! FYI, for everyone... so
don't worry. :) The "myldsmail" is filtered and probably monitored to
some extent, so that probably explains the delays when they happen.

I had someone tell me today that we (missionaries) are "prisoners" to
our religion" and that we are only trying to "work our way to heaven."
Well... that would be a sad life. If it were true, I would've stopped
being a Mormon a long time ago. First of all... there is nothing in me
that is saying "Oh, you need to go on a mission because that will get
you into heaven." Nor is there anything that the church says that says
that we go on missions only to get into heaven. We don't do any work
in the church strictly to work our way to heaven. That is a sad and
void motivation. If we do "works" with the intent of "working our way
to heaven," that is selfish. There are a lot of motivations I can name
that were influential in me coming on a mission. But the main one came
when I was pleading with God one day, for direction in my life. I felt
like my life was on hold. I felt like I was not progressing. I felt
like I would never be able to make it on my mission. I felt like, "why
not just stay home, go to school, work, get married, and continue on
with life? I can do that now, and I will be happy!" But then something
struck me with more force than ever before...I thought to myself: "I
need to go on a mission. Because somewhere in the world... whether its
in a home in North America or a hut in Africa somewhere, someone needs
to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ... specifically from YOU." There
was no thought that said "You need to go on a mission so you can work
your way to heaven."

About 99 percent of people I've met in the church do "works" because
we know are all on this crazy lost planet, and we are all searching
for a couple of things. We are searching for belonging, we are
searching for LOVE. We do "works" because it is through callings,
missions, so-called "works" that we help each other out and help each
other find our way back HOME. If it wasn't for this motivation... if
it wasn't for this gospel... I would be sitting around like a sloth,
with no purpose in life. (Brown Clown has accused me of being that
before--when it was true)... I have felt like that before!! And it is
this Gospel that picked me up out of the slums of my natural man, that
continues to pick me up out of the slums every day. It inspires me to
be better- to myself, and to the people around me. It helps me see the
path that I must take to be with my family forever. It helps me see
what I can do NOW to have happiness NOW, and what I can do to feel
happiness after death.

Because of Jesus Christ... we can have LIFE. Life after death, and a
new life at any moment we choose. We can choose to start over any
time. Failure only happens when we choose to stay down in the slums of
life. Success happens when we choose to get back up after we fall. Day
after day, moment after moment. The Gospel of Jesus Christ allows us
to improve each day, each moment. As long as we CHOOSE to do so. This
person who told me I was a prisoner also told me all the "rules" are
just made up by religions to... I don't know, keep us captive or
something. I know the "rules" are there to keep us safe. Safe from
emotional turmoil. God wants us to be happy. I know because I have
broken many rules. I have felt the emotional turmoil. And I have felt
encircled by the arms of God's love. He hears me every day, and He
heals me every day. I am so grateful.

I'm sorry I go on crazy psycho rants. I love this work, I know this
work is true. Otherwise, I WOULD NOT be on a mission. I would not
spend 2 years for something that I didn't believe in with all of my
heart. And I guess it bothers me when people accuse me of doing
otherwise.

My family... I love you. I miss you. I'm grateful for you.

Love,
Elder Brett Simper