I'm a raccoon mixed with a squirrel? Understanding grace versus works.

Hey ya'll!

So. Good week. Well... yeah. It was a good week.

First off, I remembered something I was going to write in a letter home a while back but forgot, then I looked back in my planner and remembered. A couple weeks ago, Elder Peery turned to me at the end of the day and said, "You know who you remind me of?"

"Who?"

"The raccoon from Over The Hedge. Mixed with the squirrel."

Well thank you Elder Peery. I will actually take that as high praise. Those happen to be two of my greatest role models. ;) We had a good laugh about that one.

Canada is still pretty cold. It continues to snow then melt then snow then hail then melt then rain then freeze then snow then melt then snow. Yeah. That's my life. And it's a good one. I'm definitely setting records for how fast one can scrape/brush the ice off of a windshield and get back into the car.

There's an important point I want to bring up this week that has come up a lot in these past few months.

The importance of faith, and the importance of works.

We know from the New Testament that faith, without works, is dead. (see James 2:17-18) We also know that Paul states multiple times in his epistles that men are saved by grace, not works. So... how do we reconcile these two points? Was James wrong? Was Paul wrong?

Of course not. They were both men of God. So... what's the answer?

To start off, let me make an important point.

Works do not save us. Baptism, confirmation, temple ordinances, and just being a good person don't save us. Repentance doesn't save us. Faith doesn't save us. Enduring to the end doesn't save us.

Jesus saves us.

All of these things we do and are - faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, temple ordinances, attaining Christlike attributes, etc. - are nothing without the Savior. Without a living, resurrected, perfect Messiah, all of these "works" would be dust in the proverbial wind.

Now. To explain further, there is an important change which took place with the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Mankind, without Christ's Atonement, would be left under a law of justice, requiring that every mistake or sin or imperfection be repaid in full by him who committed it. This would mean that all who ever lived, who live, or who ever will live would be literally damned, unable to progress or learn or grow for the rest of eternity.

That is not our Father in Heaven's plan.

In order to progress, we needed to be mortal. But being mortal meant making mistakes. And making mistakes, under the law of justice, meant damnation. Unless.

Unless a perfect Being, namely Jesus the Christ, became mortal, and lived perfectly, and performed a perfect Atonement for every last one of our mistakes and failures and shortcomings and imperfections.

Now. Here's the important part.

Does the fact that Christ lived and died for us, the fact that He bled in the garden of Gethsemane for us, eliminate any personal responsibility? Do we really only have to look inside our selves and say we accept His Atonement, and we're automatically placed on a list of "Saved Souls" somewhere in the heavens?

Absolutely not.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ took us from under the law of justice and placed us under the law of grace. This means that it is no longer our works which save us, but those of Jesus Christ. We no longer have to live perfectly to live with God again.

But this is not a free ride, either.

Christ does indeed ask things of us. He asks us for faith in Him, which, as we see in James 2, manifests itself by WORKS. We show our faith through repentance, baptism by immersion, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, receiving sacred ordinances in the temple of God, and working to be more like Jesus Christ. But these things we do, they don't save us.

They QUALIFY us to BE saved.

Christ can not, and will not, save a soul who chooses NOT to be saved. And we choose whether we will let Him save us. We choose by showing Him our faith through our works.

"For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

2 Nephi 25:23

It is by Christ's grace we are saved.

After all we can DO.

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

Eating ice...but not on purpose. Pride. It's not about me...it's about Him.

Hey everyone!

So... it's been a lovely week.

The week started off with a couple days where we stayed at home cause Elder Peery was pretty dang sick. I beat him at chess multiple times... he beat me at Risk multiple times... and I think I taught myself to play some cool songs on the ukelele. Yeah... staying at home is the worst. SO BORING.

Also, I think whatever thermostat controls the weather here in Quebec is broken. Everything keeps melting and then refreezing and it's seriously super weird. It also means that all sidewalks and streets are deadly. 

I thought I was gonna be super cool yesterday. There was a long driveway covered in flat, extremely slippery ice. So what did I do? I got a good running start, flew past my calm, cautious companion who was making his way toward the street, and attempted to slide my way all the way to the street.

I didn't even make it a couple feet.

As soon as my feet hit the ice, I spun around and fell face first on the ice. I actually think I bit out a little divet in the ice.

It didn't taste very good.

I also kind of bruised my chin.

Elder Peery saw me fly past him, then he looked down to place his next step, and when he looked up, he saw me face first on the ice, sliding slowly toward the street and groaning/laughing.

Yes. I am technically an adult.

Technically.

Anyways. So it was a great week.

We actually had interviews with our mission president this week. And I sat down with President Patrick and told him about some of the struggles I'm having with loving people; that when people treat me badly, I know I should love them, but instead I find myself getting really easily frustrated and even offended. He looked at me and asked,

"Elder McOmber, can I be blunt with you?"

"Yes, of course, President."

"No, I mean really. Can I be blunt with you? Are you sure you want me to?"

"Yes."

"But really. Because I don't have to be."

"I think so?" (I was feeling less sure at this point.)

"You need to let go of your pride, Elder. It's not about you."

Well. As soon as he said that, I knew without a doubt he was right.

When I decided to serve a mission, I kind of just wanted to be a returned missionary. You know what I mean? Those returned missionaries who just glow. I just wanted to be that young man who everyone looks at and says, "Wow. He must have been a good missionary." And here in the mission field, I just wanted everyone I talked to or served with to love me, even if they don't love the message I share. I've been focusing so much on how people see me. And so I found myself feeling so shafted. "Why won't these people just respect me as a person? Don't they know how hard I'm working? Don't they know how difficult this is for me? And why aren't I seeing the success I think I should get? I'm doing as much as I can!"

I realized that I'd been making this mistake for most of my life. When things don't go right... it's always been about me. Either I blamed myself for my problems, or I blamed others for not treating me right, or a combination of both. It was always my fault, my problem, my need to solve it. When things fell apart, I turned inward, closed myself off from everything and everyone that could help me and tried to solve everything on my own.

I wear the name of Jesus Christ on my chest every day from sunup to sundown. And yet I've failed to represent one of His greatest qualities.

Selflessness.

Everything our Savior did in His life was for others. Everything. There were so many moments where He had every right to say, "Do you know who I am? Do you know how hard I work for you? How dare you treat me like this?"

But He didn't.

Instead, He loved. He served. He taught. He healed. He changed people's hearts, because His own heart was entirely focused outside of Himself.

He gave everything for me. And I've been foolish enough to think that the world owes me some sort of respect, some sort of recognition.

It's not about me.

It's about Him.

Jesus Christ lives. He loves us. And He changes us, if we'll let Him.

That is the message I'm here to share.

I know it's true.

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

Teaching a GREAT family. Being sick. Freezing fun at CARNAVAL! My first ice castle. It's all about FAMILY. COOL PICS!

Hey guys!

So. Um. Seriously one of the best weeks ever.

First off. We found this SUPER cool family of Africans from Benin. They`re so cool! We dropped by the address of a former investigator, but they had moved away and this family had moved in. They invited us in immediately and we taught them right then! They moved here in October, and they have 3 boys, with another baby on the way. :) We taught them again a couple days ago and they are just so excited and great! Their kids weren`t there until the very end of the lesson though; which was actually awesome because when their youngest son, who`s about 6 years old, came in the door, he immediately ran over and gave my companion a hug. For no apparent reason. It was so adorable! I was hoping he`d give me one too... but no such luck. Aw. Maybe next week. But yeah, they`re amazing.

Funny story from this week­­... well. So... I got a little sick. And I slept for like an extra 10 hours on Thursday. I woke up finally at around 6 PM, still feeling pretty out of it, but I just wasn`t able to sleep any more. So I walked out and sat at the table and just... stared at the wall while sucking on a ball of the worst tasting menthol that ever existed. Ugh. I hate cough drops. Anyways. So my companion felt pretty sorry for me, and he decided since we weren`t going anywhere that evening, we might as well find something interesting to do. So... we pulled out the board games. We played the fastest game of Risk I`ve ever seen in my life. (I lost in 25 minutes. Seriously. I`m SO bad at that game.) Then we played a few games of chess, and then I ate some rice. (Side note. Valentina sauce is seriously the best hot sauce EVER. It`s this Mexican hot sauce that makes anything taste good. It`s also great for helping you clear out a stuffy nose when you pour it all over your rice.) Then I went to bed at like 9. I woke up feeling much better.

I`m not sure why I said that was funny. It really wasn`t. Hmm. What else was funny this week? Umm...

Well. Maybe not super funny. But more of a cultural thing. So... here in Quebec, they have a carnival. It's called... wait for it... Carnaval. And it's like... in the middle of winter. And it's outdoors. And somehow... we volunteered to help out.

The goal of Carnaval is basically to freeze all of your extremities off while still managing to keep a smile on your face. There are a ton of cool things to do. For example, there's a big hill where we do giant bowling. You know those giant balls where you stuff a person inside and they run around like a strange human hamster? Yeah. So we would just throw people in and then push them down the hill and watch them tumble around inside the whole way down.

Hilarious.

The problem I found with Carnaval is this: alcohol. You see, for those who drink, Carnaval is great. Because there's apparently some sort of special mixed alcoholic beverage called "caribou" that they can drink and it keeps them warm no matter how cold it is outside. As we don't drink, however... WE WERE STINKIN' COLD. I think my smile froze to my face. I also fell down a hill once. So that was fun.

I want to bring up something very important this week.

Family.

Dad, Mom, Morgan, Colton, Kyle... I miss you guys. Like... a lot. I think about ya'll every day. I just hope you know that. There is nothing I regret more than the times I thought that my family could wait, and I wasted precious time I could have spent with them.

So for all of you who are lucky enough to still be with your loved ones. I just gotta tell you... don't you dare waste that chance. The family is the central unit in Heavenly Father's plan for each of us. They're... everything. The whole point of this life is to eventually return to live with our Heavenly Father and the rest of our family forever.

So quit wasting time! Call your family! Visit them! Talk to them! God put us together like this for a reason! The ability to live in families is a gift that we cannot waste. The Creator of our very spirits asks us to call Him "Father." Why? Have you ever thought about that? It's because the family is everything to Him! HIS family is everything to Him! And we want to be like Him. Shouldn't that mean family should be the greatest priority in our lives?

So my challenge to each of you is to never waste another moment. Love your family. Give them your heart and soul and your time and your energy. Love the Lord thy God... and love thy neighbor as thyself. Our closest neighbors are our families. Give them everything. That is where joy is found.

I love my family; both my heavenly family and my earthly one. My Father in Heaven has given me everything. And it is for that reason that I have chosen to leave my earthly family for 2 years; because others need to know what He has done for me. Others need to know how to be sealed to their own families forever in a holy temple of God. That's what I'm teaching. That's what I'm sharing.

And I know it's true.

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

The Lucero family from Victoriaville! They're so great!

 

Pictures from Carnaval

 

Quebec from the Carnaval

  Parliament

We took these pictures in the ice castle by Carnaval! 

The bonhomme de neige! (An incredibly long French phrase that means snowman)

 

Me with the bonhomme de neige. :)

Adjusting... & He Is Always There

Hey all y'all people!

So. Yeah. I'm not dead yet.

Yet.

Quebec City is BIG. Like... really big. People are everywhere. And yet it also feels really small. How does that work? I don't know. Someone please explain this to me. Because I'm still trying to get used to life here. Also, Quebec City, which I will from now on refer to as just "Quebec" because adding in "city" is far too complicated, is like much colder than Victoriaville.

It's been a really long and short week. We had some crazy stuff happen, too. For example. There are two teams of missionaries serving in Quebec, ours and a team of sisters, Sister Clark (who was in the MTC with me! :)) and her greenie, Sister Paine. This past Thursday night, we ended up driving through the city at probably criminal speeds because a creepy man was apparently "waiting outside to kill the sisters." (According to them over the phone.) So that was fun. It's just been an interesting week.

I know this is a really short email... but I'll be better next week. Here's what I have to say to finish up.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is REAL. When we aren't good enough, when we are confused or lost or scared or in any number of situations that pull us out of our comfort zone, we HAVE to remember that our Savior both understands and will help us. He is THERE. If you're wondering if that's true, trust me. It is. I could not be doing what I'm doing right now without Him. I'm simply not good enough. I'm not strong enough or loving enough or in any way capable of doing what I'm doing right now without His constant aid. He is my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my Friend. I love Him with all my heart, and I KNOW He lives. And I KNOW He will be there for me, and for you, and for all of us, through every second of triumph or trial.

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

My First Transfer...SO Sad to Leave! Here I Come Downtown Quebec City!

Hi guys!

I'm dead.

I'm really, really dead.

I'm seriously just... dead.

So... I have been transferred. In two days, I am supposed to board a bus to go to downtown Quebec City, where I will be serving with Elder Peery. I have been unable to sleep for the past two nights. It's like I'm leaving home all over again. I've grown to love the people in Victoriaville so much; the thought of living in a large city (with the accompanying TERRIBLE traffic) almost drives me to tears. I'm... just... I don't know how to react. I'm going to miss everyone so much. The good news is that I will be remaining in the same stake (for those of you who aren't LDS, that means a group of congregations who all meet together twice a year), so when we have stake conferences, I will be seeing the members from Victoriaville. So at least there's that. And I will still be able to go on exchanges with Elder Gutierrez. So... life goes on. I guess this is the mission. I know this call comes from the Lord, and so I will fulfil it to the best of my ability, knowing He will carry me to greater heights than I can reach on my own.

Normally, I would place something funny into this letter. Well. I'm actually going completely insane and am struggling just to focus with all of the stress I have right now; so humor is (amazingly) not on the forefront of my mind at this current point in time. I guess if you would like something to laugh at, picture my face when I heard I was being transferred. I don't think my jaw has come up from the floor since (which makes eating a struggle). But... yeah. The state of my mind is pretty hilarious, you could say.

I'm just freaking out.

To finish, I would like to share an experience I had this week.

For those of you who know me pretty well, you know that I am a very critical person; mostly of myself. I tend to get down on myself when things aren't going my way, and I start to blame all of the problems surrounding me on my own imperfections. (Do not do this. This is not smart. Just for the record.)

Well, I don't know if anybody back home knows this, but the culture of Quebec is very standoffish towards religions in general, due to some events in its history related to religion. We have been threatened, yelled at, insulted, ignored, flipped off, and had doors slammed in our faces more times than I can even begin to count. Multiple people have looked me in the eyes as I testified of the Savior and told me that I shouldn't be here, that I should be back in the United States at school, learning how the world actually works and keeping my faith to myself.

As I have been prone to do, I began to blame all of these struggles on myself. I got pretty low. I had some nights where I would come home and just want to hit something, and other nights where I just wanted to sit in the corner and ignore everything for a while. I was pretty darn depressed. I was certain that if I could just be better, everything would magically start going my way. No, I wasn't expecting people to come by the thousands, begging to be baptized. But I was very, very, very low in my self-esteem and self-confidence.

I talked to my mission president.

I would like to share with all of you what he shared with me.

Perfection is a very strong word. It is a state of being, a state of completion in which we, by definition, can be no better. And when we expect this of ourselves, we will never live up to that standard. Because perfection is the end goal. And it is quite a long staircase to get there.

The work and glory of our Heavenly Father is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. The term "bring to pass" does not denote an instant change, as in "let there be light." Not at all. And when the Savior said, "Be ye therefore perfect," He was describing a process, not a flip of a switch. That is why He included the word "therefore." The "therefore" was referring to His teachings in His Sermon on the Mount, which had preceded His final statement in Matthew 5:48. It is through TRYING, through our own EFFORT to live His gospel, and through the marvelous gift of repentance through the perfect Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can stay on that path that eventually leads to perfection. Of course we're imperfect! That's part of life, that's being human!

So find the balance. Don't place the bar so low that you don't have to stretch to reach it; but don't place it so high that the achievement is impossible. The Lord desires progress toward perfection from us; not the state itself; not yet.

"Wherefore, beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given; for verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh so to do; that all may be benefited that seek or that ask of me, that ask and not for a sign that they may consume it upon their lusts."

Doctrine and Covenants 46:9

I love the Lord. I will strive to give Him everything I have, and when I fail, I will use the incredible gift of His Atonement to help me back onto the path to perfection. I love our Father in Heaven, and I will testify of Him and His Son to anyone who will listen, and even those who won't.

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

 

The Furlano family! They invited us to lunch to see me off to Quebec. I'm gonna miss them a lot. They're the best! :)

 He's just the cutest kid ever. I'm gonna miss Esteban.

 Quebec sunsets... pas pire.