Fasting: not just a temporal commandment

This last fast Sunday I had quite the thought come across my mind. As I evaluated my physical state after only 20 hours abstaining from food or water, I noticed that I felt exhausted, almost dizzy, and that my hands were difficult to hold steady. It amazed me how the lack of nourishment reflects in our physical state. The same goes for our spirit.

I noticed a different angle to fasting. We can look at fasting as simply starving, or we can see it as a way to remember our need for constant spiritual nourishment. If we go even 24 hours without nourishing our spirits our spiritual strength begins to become more and more weak. How can we nourish our spirits? By doing what the Lord has asked, whether by His own voice or the voice of His servants. "feast upon the words of Christ", pray, attend the temple, partake of the sacrament and attend other church meetings, just to name a few. If we neglect our spiritual health, we become weak. But if we follow Jesus Christ, we become strong. Each day we should ask ourselves, "what will I do to strengthen my spirit today?" Then we can follow that up with, "How has my spirit been strengthened today?"

-------------

As for this past week, I went on exchanges with Elder Risk. It was a fun exchange in Lawley. The area there is very new, within the last five years, and it was full of much more open people. Most of our day was tracting, and while that's not too effective in our area, I was able to see that it is quite effective in their's.

We also had a lesson with our friend Derick. It was an amazing lesson, and we had Brother Parker in the lesson. He invited Derick to church and he came!! I was very excited! He also stayed for all three hours. The ward was very welcoming to him. This was the second time since coming to Telford that we've had someone at church.

I love you all!

Elder Burns