Mario World and Eternal Life

Life as a missionary is like Mario World (or Diddy Kong Racing. I'ma gonna combine the two for this here post). First of all, in the Missionary Training Center in lovely Provo, Utah, a teacher taught us that life is like Mario Kart. We're on this track of life, in our little cars, and we're going along this...rainbow track, because life is colorful (is the rainbow track in Mario Kart or DKR? Ah well). And the road is bumpy sometimes, and we bump into things, like walls, and other people in their karts. And sometimes we even run off the track! But we're always put back on the track; we shake if off, and keep going. Then, we get to the loops. (My teacher compared the loops to life, and the rest of this little analogy is my own crazy imagination :) We see these loops looming in front of us, these trials, but there's no way to get around them, no way to skirt them. The only way to continue going on the track is to go on the loop. So we start going on the loop, and it takes us upward, and we think we're going in the wrong direction. This trial is too hard, it's turning our life around, taking us off our path! But we're on the loop, and it's pushing us forward. And then, without even realizing it, we're back on the track, and we're boosted forward. Then there are people who see the looming loop, and they let off the gas. They take their hand off the control, and they don't go on the loop. But then they're stuck. They can't go forward, because they lost their momentum to get through the loop. The only way to go forward is to back track a little, and then get up to speed again to go on the loop.

When we are confronted with a trial, we need to keep pressing forward, even when we feel we're being thrown for a loop, and that Christ isn't helping us get us through. But He is there. He's always helping us, and giving us aid all throughout this race of life. He gives us bananas (scriptures, prayer. Daily things we can do) to give us more strength, and balloons that give us power against Satan. We get rockets to launch at him when he's in our way. And there are boosters (Institute and seminary, General Conference. Extra things that give us that extra boost) on the ground that if we veer over to them, we are boosted forward. But now, the important thing to know, is that Satan is on this track too. He can get those balloons too, and those bananas. He can send turtle shells at us from behind, and knock us around, and spin us off the track. He can send rockets that are specifically targeted to us, so that we can never run from it. So we need to prepare against that. We need to make sure we have ammo to shoot at him. We need to make sure we get every banana, we're always reading our scriptures, and praying, and going to church, so that he can't overtake us. We need to get shields (Holy Ghost) to protect us when he does shoot something at us.

Alright, that was fun. But that's not the end of Mario World! (Probably a bad idea that I got started on this ;) So, there's this sign that we as missionaries do for the word 'baptism,' to make it short, so we don't have to write it out (sometimes we're lazy. Just kidding! We are the opposite of lazy. We just like to make up little signs for things.) -And here come some of my beautimous drawings :)

Tada! So it's a little wave of water, and then an arrow going up and around and down, symbolizing someone going down in the water as they are baptized. On the white board in mine and my companion's little cottage of joy, Sister Petersen wrote down goals of our mission, and wrote that sign. I was looking at it, and I saw not the baptism sign, but the letters u & p. up. And then my mind exploded! Complete mind blown. The baptism symbol became a 1up in my mind. For those of you who play video games, you know that a 1up in Mario games is when Mario gets a life. And what in the world does this have to do with baptisms? Well, I'll tell you. When someone is baptized, they are gaining salvation. They are being spiritually reborn. They are in essence, getting a life. They are Mario getting a mushroom, and getting a 1up! It's brilliant, I tell you! Every baptism we get, is a 1up. That's the whole reason for someone getting baptized. It's not to up the numbers in the church, it's to give people that chance to repent, and be spiritually reborn through Christ's Atonement.

Moroni 7:40-41
40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

And last, but not least, because this part is as important as getting baptized! My sign for the the gift of the Holy Ghost.
 

The ghost is, of course, the Holy Ghost; pacman is us. When we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism, the Holy Ghost is now with us, in our hearts, and minds, helping us to find and stay on the right path. So pretty much, we're pacman, chasing after the Holy Ghost, and consuming it. Just use your imagination, it'll help. (Alright, I didn't come up with the ghost, some other missionary did, but I added pacman for fun :)

I have a testimony of baptism; that it's the only way to return to live with Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ again. I know that when we make that covenant with God to follow Him, He will bless us. I have seen it in my life. I know that this gospel is true, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church, restored through Joseph Smith. I love this church and gospel so much. My hope is that more people will accept it, and see the influence of good it has in their lives.