YOU are NOT WORTHLESS

Sometimes we all have to go through the dark times in order to 'transform' into what the lord whats us to be.

And when we get there we will find that others need our help as well.

When Shang begins training, he doesn't think Mulan (Ping) is really capable of anything.  Ping is the worst at all of the training exercises, and even tries to cheat the system.(Mushu's Fault)

However, after he sends her home she feels like she can't do anything, and that she really is worthless.  These feeling come from the Devil.  When she comes into the shadow of the Tree with the Arrow, she realizes that if she could get to that Arrow she would prove her worth.

God does not ask us to 'Prove' that we are of worth in this world.  He simply says that WE ARE.

After everyone wakes up in the Morning and they see that she can "Retrieve the Arrow" (while thinking she is a man) they realize that each of them have their own Talents and Abilities.

Chien-Po is no longer afraid of water, and can do flips to each platform across the river.

Yao can run through blazing arrows, even when they are 10 times as thick as before.

Ling can smash stone with his face without losing any teeth, or hurting himself.

We all have Talents and Abilities, sometimes we just need to figure out what they are before giving up and going home.

I SHOT HIM!!

So this one time, Rodney found a new toy.

Every now and then we get these ideas that we are 'Invulnerable'.  We often forget that we only have the promise of the Lord when we do what He says.

The Spirit is much like the Protective Shield, and He will guard us from temptation as long as we turn to God with all our hearts and seek after Him.  We must do our part before the Lord will do His.

When we are serving the Lord we should not intentionally put ourselves in bad situations.  We need to do all that we can to protect ourselves first, and then ask the Lord to do thatr which we cannot.  In other words, we should not test out the Lords protection by driving twice the posted speed limit, and we should not allow our friends to shoot us, even in the leg.

The Lord has set limitations on our life, and if we are not obedient to His commandments we put ourselves in danger where He cannot help us, for God must keep His word.

Learning from our Fathers

I have learned a lot from growing up.  I didn't always want to learn anything, but my Dad taught me somewhat whenever we did anything together. (1 Nephi 1:1) What I gained the most is what I need to do in order to survive the trials that come after me all the time.

So this is me and my Dad.  He is teaching me the ways of the master chess player.  He is also teaching me the ways of life.  I think I was losing at this point, but that would depend on what losing is.

Losing to me is not learning from what you did wrong last time.

Losing to me is not being happy that you got to play the game in the first place.

Losing to me is not playing again just because the other guy is better than you.

WINNING on the other hand, is when I would intentionally get every piece killed off without putting my King in jeopardy, just because Dad took my Queen on his third move.

WINNING is saying, "Dad you're better than Me, but I am going to play anyway."

WINNING is when the conversation goes something like this...

"I beat you." - Dad
"I took your Queen." - Me
"Queen doesn't matter if you don't protect the King." - Dad
"So, maybe he was a stupid King and I wanted you to destroy his entire army and take him out of power because he didn't do his job right." - Me
"I still beat you." - Dad
"So, I got rid of the stupid King so now I get a Smart King and then I can beat you." - Me

That is a WINNING conversation in my book.

While I was growing up me and my Dad played chess all the time.  I remember one day we were supposed to be fixing the sprinklers in the backyard but we took about 4 hours and eat Sandwiches, play chess, and watch M*A*S*H.  Mom was a little less excited when she got home and nothing was done, but me and Dad were happy because we spent time doing something we enjoyed.

I also remember times in school when the only way I knew how to explain something was through chess.  If it didn't have something to do with taking out that guy in order to move in on the King then it didn't matter.  Everything I ever used I had learned from my Dad.

About a two years ago, before my mission, me and my Dad started playing Starcraft together.  Almost every morning I would get up, eat breakfast, and turn on the computer to get on FaceBook.  After about 20 or 30 minutes, I would hear almost the exact same thing,

"READY TO DIE?" - Dad
"Sure." - Me

We would then play Starcraft for about 4 hours, and then go do chores.  My Dad should probably stick to chess, because playing 4-5 rounds of Starcraft a day, for about 2 months, he only ever 'won' about 30 games, while I 'won' about 200 games.

However my Dad won every single time to me.  Even though the game said he lost because I had killed off all his little army dudes, he never stopped playing with me.  He was always ready to say, "you cheated, do it again", even when he knew I didn't cheat he was alwasy trying to learn how I was beating him.

So as long as you learn from what you fail at, you never fail at all.  You never 'lose' if you 'Won' some knowledge.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ,

we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ,

and we write according to our prophecies,

that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

-- 2 Nephi 25:26

This is what I have learned from My Dad.

How to Unlearn Things

I want to be a U.S. Marshal.  This means I have a very firm mindset.  I know exactly what I need to do and then I do it.  It leaves very little room for error, and I often tell others what bothers me.   In order to do what I want, I must first become who I want to be.

Unlearning a way of thinking is often very difficult, possibly the most difficult thing anyone would ever do.  With something that is hard physically, you simply go work out and build up strength until you can accomplish the task.  But when your obstacle is Mental you must be able to break it down, and yet not remove the wall.

Black Wall

I have wondered . . . How is it possible to build a Blue wall in the place of a Black wall without removing the Black wall?

Blue Wall

Then a good friend helped me to see that the wall doesn't have to be all one color.  Both colors can be part of the wall.  So all I have to do is figure out which bricks need replaced from the Black, and then remove it and insert a Blue brick.

"And according to his faith 

there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. 

Behold I say unto you that this is all true."

-- Alma 5:12

Knowing what to do is only the beginning, the actually doing it takes time and effort to change not only the way you act, but also the way you think.  Rethinking things and changing your mind is usually not all that difficult, but having a permanent change in how you see things is often a very hard struggle.

Black Wall with Blue Brick 'upgrades'

"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, 

if ye have experienced a change of heart, 

and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, 

I would ask, can ye feel so now?"

-- Alma 5:26

I have one year left on my Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In that time I hope to assimilate all the Blue bricks I need to in order to make my wall balanced as it should be.

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, 

have ye spiritually been born of God? 

Have ye received his image in your countenances? 

Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

-- Alma 5:14

"The bricks are fallen down, 

but we will build with hewn stones; 

the sycamores are cut down, 

but we will change them into cedars."

-- 2 Nephi 19:10

Airbending - A Flexible Ability

The key to Airbending is flexibility, finding and following the path of least resistance. Airbending is notable for being almost entirely defensive.  Airbenders never seek a fight and they never seek to strike an opponent directly.  As contention is of the devil, we should also never seek to harm others, or hurt their feelings.  If something happens that we do hurt someone emotionally or physically, we should do everything we can to make it right and help them feel better.

As the element of freedom, Airbenders can move about and dodge attacks without needing to worry about gravity or other environmental factors that limit the other forms of bending.

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Airbending requires evading attacks with speed and agility to exhaust your opponent, or using massive amounts of inertia for explosive gusts of wind.  Satan tries the same thing, he either waits until you are tired and unable to defend against his attacks, or he uses overwhelming force day after day until you give in.


Airbending's opposite is Earthbending.  Learning to by completely flexible, and solid as a rock at the same time, is something that almost everyone struggles with.  We must be Firm and Unshaken in our testimony of Christ, while still being led through an unpredictable life by the Holy Ghost.

Waterbending - A 'Fluid' Ability

Water is the element of change.

We make a promise with God when we are Baptized, and covenant to change from past evil ways.

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Waterbending is mostly flowing and graceful; acting in concert with their environment.  A waterbender must learn to mind their surroundings in order to keep themselves safe.
 

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The people of the Water Tribe first learned Waterbending by observing how the moon pushed and pulled the tides of the ocean. They then learned how to simulate the effect themselves.

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Aang used the Spirit of the Moon to help him protect the Northern Water Tribe during an attack by the Fire Nation.

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Almost all forms of Waterbending involve moving and shaping a body of water to the Waterbender's desire. The bender must know exactly what is supposed to happen before they start trying to bend the water or they won't get very far. The Spirit is the same way, if we don't know what we want to do, He won't tell us how to get there because we are the ones in charge of providing the goal or destination, He is the heavenly GPS that will get us there.


Waterbending is the opposing bending art to Firebending. Just like the gospel has eternal opposition of righteousness and wickedness, we can see the representation of this opposition in everything around us.

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The power of a Waterbender is connected to his or her present emotional state. If an inexperienced Waterbender were to lose his or her temper, their Waterbending force is intensified, but in turn, control is lost.

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The people of the Foggy Swamp Tribe always had a much more easy going method of Waterbending. They would use it to get from place to place, and to have the swamp grow where they wanted it to by bending the water in the plants.

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"And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water."

-- 3 Nephi 11:26