Welcome Home Elder Dawson!

Tracking the flight to Los Angeles

He is back - 90 pounds lighter! We didn't recognize him! This is a picture of all the cousins - just missing Jayden who is in Colombia.

Grandma and Poppa!

Madi, Elder Dawson, Tatum

We are so proud of you!

Welcome Home!

Week 97 in the Field - The Best Two Years

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

I'm coming home; I'm coming home. Tell the world that I'm coming home.

Well it's finally come to an end. Soon I'll be singing "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" but this time it won't be directed towards a companion, a fellow district member, or an area. No, this time I'll be singing to you Guatemala, the country of the eternal spring. I'll be singing to the Guatemalans I have come to love so dearly. I'll be singing to handmade tortillas, ancient pyramids, and Mayan ruins. I'll be saying goodbye to members and converts. I'll be saying goodbye to the best two years.

The best two years? Absolutely. Without a doubt. And also the sweatiest, hardest, most challenging and yet most gratifying two years.

Am I glad I went on a mission? You bet. Am I the same person I was when I boarded that fateful flight two years ago? Not by a long-shot. But you know what? That's what it's all about. My mission experience has taught me to put others first, to set and achieve goals, to develop charity, to exercise patience, to work diligently, to forgive quickly, and to love truly.

Perhaps the greatest dividends of missionary work are paid in the words of testimony which I can now say. The phrases are short and you've heard their contents before; but these ones are different because these ones are mine:

I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is God´s son. Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Book of Mormon is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom upon the earth. The temple is the house of the Lord. Families can be together forever.

Am I perfect? Not even close. In the words of Robert Frost, "I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." My greatest challenges lie yet ahead; and though I see great, tall peaks looming in the distance, I look back and remember how far I have come. I may still stumble and I may yet fall along my journey; but my savior has lifted me up before.

After one particularly tough climb the Israelites made in antiquity, "Samuel," the record states "took a stone... and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

Samuel looked back and saw that the Lord had been with him the entire time. As I also look back, I see the same. I conclude with the words of a favorite hymn that expresses my gratitude towards my Heavenly Father for these, the best two years:

Here I raise my Eben-ezer

Hither by thy help I come

And I hope by thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home

See you Wednesday. 

Stake Patriarch

Sister Selma and her family

Farewell Party

Week 96 in the Field - Straight Outta Compton and The War is On

Hey guys, I hope you´ve all had a great week.

These last few days have been pretty cool. We had a training meeting on Thursday with President Crapo that went really well. We´ve been focusing a lot more on baptism in all of our contacts and other teaching efforts. We had six investigators in church on Sunday and we have several people progressing towards baptism.

Today I´m heading off to the central market of Guatemala to buy some souvenirs. Should be pretty fun.

Hope you guys are all doing great. I´ll be enjoying my last few days as a missionary. I´m so happy for all of the personal growth I´ve seen in my own life and the work that God has been able to accomplish through me in the lives of other people.

I love this quote by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

"The war is on, and we have conspicuously enlisted. And certainly it is a war worth waging. But we are foolish, fatally foolish, if we believe it will be a casual or convenient thing. We are foolish if we think it will demand nothing of us.... I truly believe there can be no casual Christians, for if we are not watchful and resolute, we will become in the heat of battle a Christian “casualty.”...Surely our sometimes clichéd expressions of testimony and latter-day privilege don’t amount to much until we have had open invitation to test them in the heat of battle and have in such spiritual combat found ourselves to be faithful. ...When gospel principles get unpopular or unprofitable or very difficult to live, will we stand by them “for the duration”? That is the question our experiences in Latter-day Saint life seem most determined to answer. What do we really believe, and how true to that are we really willing to live?" 

I hope that we will be dedicated to our covenants and strive to be more that just casual Christians. I hope that we will make a concerted effort to be disciples of Christ. I´ve learned that this requires more than a passive acceptance, rather in necessitates an active commitment.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Video of the service project from the other day

Your typical street in Guatemala

Week 95 in the Field - Trio #6, Service Project, and The Temple

Hey guys, I´ve had a great week and I hope everyone else did as well.

I´m in a trio once again (woo!) and that´s actually not a sarcastic woo because I love being in a trio. My new companion´s name is Elder Busker. He´s from Georgia and has a year in the field. 

This week we did a service project which involved delving into the depths of a valley to bring out fire wood. Pictures/videos to come.

Today we went to the temple and that´s why I´m writing on a Wednesday.

I love Brigham Young because that guy didn´t care at all about what everyone else thought. He only cared about the kingdom of god and its progress. Of temple work, Brigham Young said in his day:

"You have got to do the work, or it will not be done. We do not want any whiners about this temple. If you cannot commence cheerfully, and go through the labor of the whole building cheerfully, start for California, and the quicker the better. Make you a golden calf, and worship it. If your care for the ordinances of salvation, for yourselves, your living, and dead, is not first and foremost in your hearts, in your actions, and in everything you possess, go! "

Love you guys; have a great week!

Pre Service Project

Temple

R2D2

Trio

Temple

Trio

Week 94 in the Field - Now what? and Eternal Vigilance Inbox x

Hey guys; I hope everyone has had a great week.

This week went well, I am getting along with my companion and we are making progress in the area. It´s hard to open an area because once your plans fall it always comes to "now what?" and we have no idea what to do sometimes. But that´s okay, we´ll keep on working.

I have a lot to do today but I want you all to know that I love you! Hope you guys have a great week!

I enjoyed this quote I found in my personal study by Spencer W. Kimball:

"Perfection is a long, hard journey with many pitfalls. It’s not attainable overnight. Eternal vigilance is the price of victory. Eternal vigilance is required in the subduing of enemies and in becoming the master of oneself. It cannot be accomplished in little spurts and disconnected efforts. There must be constant and valiant, purposeful living—righteous living. The glory of the Lord can be had only through correct and worthy marriage and living a clean, worthy life."

Week 93 in the Field - Pigeons, Blonde Guatemalans, and The Atoning Axis

Hey guys, I hope everyone has had a great week.

This week has treated us well. We have several cool investigators and we are enjoying our area.

We live in a five story apartment building that is infested with pigeons and someone thought it would be a good idea to put the sink out on the balcony so we are in a constant struggle against the pigeons when we wash our dishes. Their sole desire is to poop on all our plates. Freaking pigeons.

Our bishop´s son is blonde which is extremely uncommon for Guatemalans and so everyone in the ward says he´s my son. Maybe we do look alike? Picture attached.

So yeah everyone is like already saying goodbye to me and congratulating me for my service as a missionary. Less than a month to go. We´re still working hard though. Like Disney´s Hercules, I can go the distance.

Thanks everyone for your emails; I love you guys a lot. I love being a missionary. I love being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I echo the testimony of Neal A Maxwell:

"I testify that Jesus’ grip on Himself in that atoning axis between Gethsemane and Calvary was really mankind’s grip on immortality. Jesus finished His preparations, as He said, unto the children of men (see D&C 19:19). Now it remains for us as mortals to claim the blessings of the great Atonement. Our gratitude for Christ and His Atonement will grow with the years and the decades. It will never cease growing. And the scriptures foretell that we will praise Him forever and ever."

I love you all; have a great week!

Week 92 in the Field - Elder Lozano, Kennedy, a Wise Improvement Upon Every Little They Receive

Hey guys; I hope you´ve all had a great week.

This week I got transferred to an area called Kennedy (shoutout to my brother who is also a former resident of another, different Barrio Kennedy) in Zone 18 of Guatemala City which is basically like the Compton of Guatemala but I´m actually in the only part that's safe so good for me I guess.

My new companion is Elder Lozano from Peru (shoutout to Perusalem) and he´s a humble, amazingly powerful convert of less than a a year and a half to the gospel. I love this guy.

We are opening our area and had 16 new investigators this week and placed two baptismal dates. The ward here has a lot of strong members.

I don´t have a lot of time but I want you all to know that I´m doing great!

I love this quote by Brigham Young:

"The people [cannot receive the laws] in their perfect fullness; but they can receive a little here and a little there, a little today and a little tomorrow, a little more next week, and a little more in advance of that next year, if they make a wise improvement upon every little they receive; if they do not, they are left in the shade, and the light which the Lord reveals will appear darkness to them, and the kingdom of heaven will travel on and leave them groping. Hence, if we wish to act upon the fullness of the knowledge that the Lord designs to reveal, little by little, to the inhabitants of the earth, we must improve upon every little as it is revealed."

Shoutout to Elder Jepson and Elder Perez, my former companions, who ended their missions!

Elder Jepson, Elder Dawson

Elder Perez

The Trio is Back in Town

Elder Lozano

Week 91 in the Field - Transfers, Jumique Family, and the Common Law of Life

Well, I´m being transferred to Guatemala City to finish my mission!

Teculután has treated me well. This week we placed a baptismal date with each of the members of Henry Jumique´s family. They´re reading the Book of Mormon and want to know if the church is true. Henry says he already got his answer and he´s helping his family a lot.

I like this poem I heard in a talk by Sterling W Sill:

“The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil to live,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

“Good timber does not grow at ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, in rain and snow,
in trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold council with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.”

I Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Ruiz, Kimberly, Andrea, and the Lobos Family

Branch President, President Morales

Week 90 in the Field - ´Murica, 4 Investigators, and Edward VIII

Weekly Letter 4th July, 2016

Hey guys; happy independence day! I hope everyone has had a great week.

This week was great. We met the mission goal for this week, had four investigators in sacrament meeting, and had several lessons with our golden investigator Henry who will be baptized on the 30th of this month.

77 people came to church on Sunday and with attendance levels at 50 or 60 a couple of months ago things are looking pretty good in Teculutan.

This week we will get news about transfers. I think I will get transferred for my last change but who knows.

I enjoyed a quote I heard this week attributed to Richard L. Evans, "If you don't change directions, you're gonna get where you're going". At first impression, this is just a statement of fact but for me it has a least 2 profound lessons: 1. If we are on the right track we're gonna make it to the celestial kingdom and 2. If we're on any other track we're simply gonna make it somewhere else.

I find that this eternal truth has a lot to do with a story I heard in a talk by Spencer W. Kimball. In the address, President Kimball discusses the life of Edward the VIII. Born a child of promise and royalty, Edward the VIII was destined to be king of the British Empire. In his youth he was a literal Prince Charming and perhaps the most loved of any British Prince ever. He ascended to the throne as a single man and ruled over a fourth of the world's population but eventually fell in love with a married woman and was forced to abdicate the throne and he died as a common citizen.

We, like Henry VIII are heirs to a royal throne. If we don't change directions we may be forced to abdicate. I love you all.

-Elder Dawson

Murica

River selfie

Week 89 in the Field - Ketchup, Gualán Revisited, Henry

Weekly Letter June 27, 2016

Hey guys; I hope everyone has had a great week.

On Monday this week we had a family home evening with the Valenzuela family. They are all members but they come to church pretty irregularly so we visited them, talked about the restoration of the gospel, and they invited us to some pizza. As a sidenote, everyone here puts ketchup on their pizza. I wonder if that's just a Guatemalan thing.

On Tuesday we had a multizone conference with President and Sister Crapo, the assistants, and all of the missionaries who are serving outside of Guatemala City. Much was mentioned about obedience, exercising faith, and planning effectively. It was a great conference. 

...(cut of) elders in Gualan and all four of us worked in their area. I was able to visit many of my converts and old investigators. First we visited the Ramirez Family and the dad, Lucio, invited his sister and her daughters to the discussion. In the course of the lesson we asked Lucio's sister Rosa if she'd like to be baptized and she said that she had been searching for someone to baptize her. She and two of her daughters now have a baptism date scheduled for the 30th of July. Lucio and Gloria Ramirez and the four children they have that are over the age of eight are all baptized members of the church and they recounted with joy to Rosa the experience of their baptism. The Ramirez family are some of the humblest people I know and yet they are such happy people.  They fed us bone soup before we left (literally just cow bones boiled in water), showing us their generosity in spite of their limited resources.

Later I visited Cristino Garcia, one of the first people I taught in my entire mission. When he saw me he almost started to cry and said "Elder Dawson, is that you?" He reminded me that when I said goodbye to him when I left Gualan I had told him that every time he remembered me that he should remember what I taught him about keeping the commandments and going to church. Cristino has been struggling with alcoholism but he told me that in his dark moments that he always remembers me and remembers what I taught him about the things of God.

Some of my converts are struggling to go to church and keep the commandments but I told each one of them that the great desire of my heart is to live with them in the celestial kingdom. I told them that I would perhaps be giving them my last mortal goodbye but that if they kept the faith that we would have a glorious reunion in the life to come.

One more experience and I'll wrap this letter up. On Monday we got a call from a guy named Henry who had found a piece of church literature with our phone number on it. The pamphlet was titled "The Plan of Salvation" and he was intrigued by what he read. So intrigued, it turns out, that he feels that what he read was a sign from God indicating that he should join the church. On Thursday we visited his home and after talking about his purpose on earth he expressed desires to be baptized. On Saturday we gave him a tour of the chapel and taught him about the restoration and he says he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. On Sunday he came to church and told us he had read from the Book of Mormon for several hours the previous evening and he participated in Sunday school and priesthood meeting, answering questions that the teachers posed to the students.

A couple of weeks ago we fasted for a miracle in our area and I think Henry is that miracle. I'll keep you updated on his progress.

"Mormonism" taught Joseph F. Smith, "makes good men better men, and ... takes even bad men and makes good ones of them. That is what 'Mormonism' will do if we will only permit it to do it. If we will bow to its mandates and adopt its precepts in our lives, it will make us the sons and daughters of God, worthy eventually to dwell in the presence of the Almighty in the heavens."

I know this to be true. I love you all and hope you have great week. - Elder Dawson

Elder Proby

Elder Alarcon

Ramirez Family

Cristino

Tona

Silvia and Dennis

Cuyan Family

Week 88 in the Field - 7, Raw Milk, and Glasses

Weekly Letter June 20, 2016

Hey guys; I hope everyone has had a great week.

This week has treated us pretty well. We have about 7 investigators who we thing can really progress and be baptized and we continue to see fruits of our reactivation efforts.

This week I  found out that there's a guy who drives around Teculutan selling fresh cow milk. I bought some from him and since it's unpasteurized I had to boil it but it is super tasty. All stores in Guatemala exclusively sell ultra pasteurized milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated and costs like $1.50 a liter. But his guy sells the real stuff for like $0.70 a liter. How didn't I know about this earlier?

This week we had branch conference and the district president told a neat story that I'd like to share. The district president uses glasses and he had a pair that just wouldn't fit on his head. The glasses always looked lop-sided in the mirror and one day he bent and twisted the glasses so much with the intent to get them to fit right that the glasses broke. He went to the optometrist and they told him that the glasses weren't the cause of the problem, it was his face! He has facial asymmetry and one eye is a tiny bit higher on his face than the other. He wasn't trying to adjust a bad pair of glasses to his symmetrical face; he was trying to adjust a good pair of glasses to his asymmetrical face. 

The district president went on to explain that this is what many people do with the gospel. Instead of molding themselves to the gospel they want to mold the gospel to themselves and it doesn't work. The problem lies not in the gospel; but in ourselves. When we try to bend a commandment or twist a principle the gospel ceases to bring us blessings because when we almost keep a commandment God almost blesses us. 

I know this to be true and I hope that each of us will strive to be obedient so that we might receive the blessings God has in store for us.

I love you all; have a great week!

-Elder Dawson

Grass Selfie

Divisions with the Elders from Guastatoya

Week 87 in the Field - Graves, Unexpected Find, and Every Gift and Blessing

Weekly Letter June 13, 2016

Week 86 in the Field - Leaders´ Meeting, Elder Jackson, and Emulation

Weekly Letter June 6th 2016

Hey guys; I hope you've all had a great week.

This week we had a leaders' meeting in the capital and we stayed the night at the assistants' house. The meeting was good; we talked about focusing on families, having effective planning sessions and developing leadership qualities.

Someone this week called me Elder Jackson. Felt like I'd been struck by a smooth criminal.

Other than that this week has been pretty normal. I'm getting along well with my companion and generally enjoying life.

My spiritual thought for this week has its root in a quote by Neal A. Maxwell who said: "We simply can't get most mortal things by celestial customs. Only the eternal things are portable."

Jeffrey R. Holland has taught that the only two things we really retain after this life are our personal character (character being the sum of our testimony, intelligence, Christ-like attributes, etc.) and the family relationships we have which have been sealed by priesthood power found in the Holy Temples of God.

How important it is, therefore, that we refine our personal character and strengthen our family relationships. Joseph F. Smith sums up this principle very well:

"Our affections and our desires are found fitted and prepared to endure not only throughout the temporal or mortal life, but through all eternity...We are living for eternity and not merely for the moment. We are immortal beings, and we are looking forward to the growth that is to be attained in an exalted life after we have proved ourselves faithful and true to the convenants that we have entered into here, and then we will receive a fulness of joy. A man and woman...should be able by their power, example and influence to cause their children to emulate them in lives of virtue, honor, and in integrity to the kingdom of God which will redound to their own interest and salvation We are, therefore, to develop our personal character to such a degree that our children, by emulating us, might receive their exaltation along with us. By having this as our goal, we focus on the two things that we really can take through celestial customs.

I love you all; have a great week!

-Elder Dawson

Nuestro tres amigos! The Arizona Missionaries. Elder Dawson, Elder Flygare, Elder Aubrey

Really good ceviche I ate this week.

Week 85 in the Field - Staying, Gringo Rejection, and Brother Brigham

Weekly Letter May 30th 2016

Hey guys I hope everyone has had a great week.

Well, we got news about transfers yesterday and I'll be staying here in Teculutan. As a matter of fact, no one is being transferred from the entire zone. I'm content to stay here with Elder Ruiz and to keep working with our investigators.

This week we went on splits with the assistants which was neat. I went with Elder Savage who is from Genola, Utah. He's a cool guy and a hard worker. On splits we found a house where a bunch of volunteers from the United States were living. None of them wanted to talk to us which was really sad and reminded us how people feel about Mormons back in the states.

We also went on splits with the elders from Gualan and I went with Elder Gutierrez from Huehuetenango, Guatemala. He's new in the mission and still kind of timid but he's a neat guy and we got to know each other pretty well.

This week I gave a talk in sacrament meeting and I shared a story about the prophet Brigham Young. As a little bit of background, let's remember that in the early years of this dispensation the saints built a temple in Kirtland but were soon forced to leave the temple in the hands of apostates. They fled to Missouri, their New Jerusalem and were again forced to leave. Finally they got to Nauvoo and thought it would be a place of permanent residence but then their prophet was murdered during the building of the temple and again they fled. When they got to the Salt Lake Valley Brigham Young announced that they would build a temple. Basically the common response was "Look Brother Brigham; we've tried this temple building stuff and it doesn't work. Maybe you're going to build a temple; but I'm not." In a general conference address Brigham Young replied and said: "some will inquire: 'Do you suppose we'll finish the temple Brother Brigham?' Well I've had such questions put to me already. My answer is: I don't know. And further more, I don't care. I have never cared but for one thing: and that is simply to know that I am now, this day, right before my Father in Heaven. If I am this moment, this day, doing the things God requires of my hands, and precisely where my Father in Heaven wants me to be, I care no more about tomorrow  than though it would never come. I do not know where I will be tomorrow, and I do not know whether this temple shall be completed. But his I do know: there should be a temple built. And I know it is the duty of this people to commence to build it."

I hope that this attitude of diligent faith will be our collective mindset.

Have a great week!

-Elder Dawson

Week 84 in the Field - Christian, Youth in the Presidency, and a Fountain of Joy

Weekly Letter May 23rd 2016

Hey guys; I hope you've all had a great week.

This week we were contacting with some Book of Mormon passalong cards and found a cool guy named Christian. We asked him if he had ever wondered why people called us "The Mormons" and he replied that he had asked that question but that he didn't know the answer. We explained to him briefly about the Book of Mormon and he was really intrigued and wanted to know where he could purchase a copy of  the book. We responded that the book had no cost and that although we didn't have a copy on hand (we had given some out already that day) we would be happy to pass by his house the following day and give him a free copy. He agreed and the next day we passed by to talk with him and his wife. The wife expressed that she had always wanted to go to church with us and Christian had a lot of good questions about the Book of Mormon. They seem like great new investigators and we're excited to begin sharing the gospel with them.

On Sunday we had district conference and our district president finally got released after serving in that capacity for 14 years and I swear that the new district presidency must be one of the youngest in the entire church because all three are in their twenties. Two are newly-weds and one isn't married yet. Hopefully this will lead the Motagua district in an exciting new direction.

My spiritual thought this week is based on a quote by President Joseph F. Smith who said:

"All who have tasted of the influence of the Spirit of God, and have had awakened within them a hope of eternal life, cannot be happy unless they continue to drink of that fountain until they are satisfied, and it is the only fountain at which they can drink and be satisfied."

I testify that the restored gospel espouses the living water of which Jesus spoke. The words of eternal life are sweet to the taste and are the only substance which will quench our spiritual thirst in a parched world. If we continue to drink we will have this promise, expressed in verse by Isaac Watts:

Then I shall see and hear and know

All I desired and wished below,

And every pow'r find sweet employ

In that eternal world of joy.

May that celestial realm be our individual and collective goal.

I love you all; have a great week.

-Elder Dawson

Foto - Pásenla a su zona

Week 83 in the Field - Friendly Competition, Unexpected Acceptance, And Morianton

Weekly Letter May 16th 2016

Hey guys; I hope everyone has had a great week.

This week our branch celebrated "Family Week" which meant that we spent a lot of time planning and having some fun activities. Saturday's activity was probably the best friendly competition mixed with a three-legged race, trivia, tug-of-war, and balloon popping made for a really fun night.

I'm always surprised at the varied reactions we get when we talk to people. The other day we were knocking doors and pretty much everyone was giving us the same lame excuses (I'm busy, I already go to a church, I'm about to leave, etc.) Finally we knocked on one lady's door and when she saw us she gasped and said "come on in" before we even introduced ourselves or actually said anything. She basically just let us in because although she'd never really spoken to missionaries before, she recognized us as servants of Christ and wanted a spiritual message. She told us that her father had recently had a stroke and that she has been tirelessly caring for him. We taught her that faith and hope centered in Jesus Christ provide an anchor to our souls so that the winds and waves of life cannot move us. All in all, it was a neat lesson.

I almost forgot to mention that on Monday we finally got to see the statue of the miraculous Black Jesus in Esquipulas. The deal is that every year there is a pilgrimage to visit a statue of Christ that according to local superstition mixed with religious tradition and tourism hype can work miracles. Traditionally the trek is to be finished crawling on your knees and thousands come, bloodied and bruised, to ask a favor from the statue which is housed in a large baroque-style Catholic basilica. Although, our visit was not quite as dramatic, it was neat to see something of another religion. Because it was a Monday afternoon there were not many visitors but there were a few devouts knelt and drying at the foot of the statue. Part of the superstition is that you can't have your backed turned to the statue. Not being superstitious but just a little stitious (and for respect) we walked backwards out of the basilica as to not run our backs to black Jesus. Afterwards we took pictures and ate Taco Bell so all in all it was a successful P-Day.

This week my spiritual message will center on a man named Morianton whose story is found in chapter 10 of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Morianton lived in a turbulent time of Jaredite history. Such was the succession from one king to another that that's exactly what the chapter heading in Ether 10 says to sum up this period in four words, "One king succeeds another". We read that "Morianton...gathered together an army of outcasts, and went forth and gave battle unto the people; and he gained power over many cities; and the war became exceedingly sore, and did last for the space of many years; and he did gain power over all the land, and did establish himself king over all the land. And after that he had established himself king he did ease the burden of the people, by which he did gain favor in the eyes of the people, and they did anoint him to be their king." Well, at least so far this Morianton guy seems to be pretty cool. Kind of like a Moroni-King Benjamin hybrid who is a great military leader but also a public servant. Let's see how the story continues: "And he did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord." And it's over, seconds later, "But wait!" cried the world, "What happened? Sure this guy had his weaknesses; but to deserve to be 'cut off from the presence of the Lord?'"

Neal A Maxwell explains:

"Why do some think that adultery and similar sins are permissible as long as anything else they do is commendable? The Lord's focus is not on 'the one thing thous doest which is good' but instead on what one or more things we still lack in order to have eternal life. To compose a symphony, to win a battle, or to save a company, each can be commendable and a worthy entry into the book of life but these do not compensate for breaking the seventh commandment (thou shalt not commit adultery). In the arithmetic of heaven several commendables do not cancel out one inexcusable."

Let us, then deny ourselves of all ungodliness so that we might appear spotless at judgment day.

-Elder Dawson

Video of the market in Esquipulas