I know I say this every week but the week went by fast! We got rained on Saturday with a big thunderstorm. The weather this week was very British. One day nice, one day completely wet, another day nice for a few hours then wet, lots of water. I got a phone call Saturday morning asking for me to give a talk in church the next day. This is what I learned from that.
I often overthink things like a speaking assignment. Most talks I have given in the past are very structured and logical, because that is how I think. I took a different approach this time: keep it simple, short, and personal. My assigned topic was Charity, which is defined in the scriptures as the pure love of Christ. Thanks to persistence from high school and university English teachers, I wanted to make sure my talk was appropriate for the audience I had. What was my audience? A chapel full of families with kids running around and crawling under the benches, parents trying to control them and really listening with just one ear, grandparents, young adults trying to listen and not fall asleep, so basically everything. The talks I can remember most are always the ones where a personal story is shared that relates well to the topic, so that is what I tried.
Love is an interesting emotion, one I don't understand at all. It can often lead us to actions we wouldn't normally do. Christ-like love is charity, and to more fully understand it we need to understand its
opposite: pride.
President Dieter F. Uchdorf described it like this last April in General Conference:
"The great enemy of charity is pride. Pride is one of the biggest reasons marriages and families struggle. Pride is short-tempered, unkind, and envious. Pride exaggerates its own strength and ignores the virtues of others. Pride is selfish and easily provoked. Pride assumes evil intent where there is none and hides its own weaknesses behind clever excuses. Pride is cynical, pessimistic, angry, and impatient. Indeed, if charity is the pure love of Christ, then pride is the defining characteristic of Satan. Pride may be a common human failing. But it is not part of our spiritual heritage.
I have felt all those feelings at one point or another. Understanding and being aware of that is what helps understand Charity. I learned that if I could eliminate those attributes then charity will naturally come, like making a sculpture from a chunk of rock. This charity can strengthen families, marriages, and much more.
Upcoming this week we have another trip to London. It's already the last week of the transfer! A week from today we well get the phone call with all the moves happening in the zone.
Cheers!
Elder Spencer Ammermon
England London Mission
64-68 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London
England SW7 2PA