Late night funeral dance party at church

 Howdy y'all. I hope you all had a great week. 

Today I get to write to you from a computer. WOW I know, it's very chic. You already know the drill

Spiritual thought: Who is that man?

I have been thinking a lot about the story of Job in the bible. I hear many stories about how it is possible that these bible characters are just stories but whether they are or not, I still find them interesting. Like I have talked about before, the story of Joseph in Egypt is my favorite one from the bible. But the story of Job is currently placing second. 

The first chapter is pretty wild. It gives an interaction between God and Satan. In almost an interesting way, God boasts about his faithful son Job who says "that there is none like him in the earth". Satan is trying to convince God that Job only worships him because life is easy for him. 

"Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land" (Job 1: 10)

God then allows Satan to take away the things that surrounded Job but was forbidden to touch Job specifically in any way. So what did Satan take away? His cattle were taken out by robbers. All of his sheep were wiped away in a flame that came from the sky. Chaldeans stole camels, while a strong wind made a house fall to the ground while his sons and daughters were inside. 

Job was so distraught that he showed the cultural sign for grief by tearing his clock and shaving his head. But despite these seemingly signs of anger or frustration he proclaimed, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither" This perspective is so shocking to me and I find it hard to develop. He continues with "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." 

Furthermore throughout the story, Satan was given more authority to derail Job's life. God authorized him to now take away his health, his wife, and other precious things in his life but "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly"

I am not normally one to curse God, but cursing God because is not something anyone does openly. So how often do you remember God when foolish, frustrating, or infuriating things happen in your life? Throughout your grief, do you praise God? Or do you put god aside until you've solved enough yourself to then place God in the picture? I hope that we can understand that bad circumstances are not caused by God. I invite you to not only think of your blessings, but also realize the blessing of hardship. Think about it. At least for me, my best moments with God are when things just don't seem to be working. It was only through humbling situations in the book of Mormon that the Nephites remembered their lord. So let's keep remembering to the best of our ability so that we never lose sight of our goals.

Weeklies: 

- The title comes from what happened last night. The church across the street was having a funeral we think, but were rocking out until 4:00 am in the morning. Thanks for the earplugs dad. Except, I found out that they aren't super efficient when you have a mega loud choral/band playing full volume in your room. Let's just say I didn't sleep.

- I got to visit my training sector again last Monday and say hi to a couple of new friends. It's always a blast

- We had zone conference week and I was stressing out with all the food planning and adventure we were on. But all turned out well and everyone got to eat some amazing food.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful week. Keep up the hard work and you should send me an email if it crosses your mind.

-Elder Hill