Why I am Here in Moscow or What You Were Promised Before You Came to Earth.

This is the 101th post on our mission blog. To commemorate the first of the next hundred posts, I thought I would share a project that I have been working on for a few weeks now; to write a proclamation of what I believe and then research scripture to support these beliefs to make sure I am on solid ground. It's a facinating process. You must understand that this is a work in progress. Currently, I am researching scriptures to support each statement. Then, after the research, I will rewrite the document in a final form. So, here is the first draft.

What You Were Promised Before You Came to this Earth
Before you were born you made a decision of your own free will, to come to this earth to gain experience, and learn principles in this life that would lead to true happiness. You were told that you might suffer greatly here, but that it would be worth it because of what you would learn and that adversity is necessary for you to develop and become all that you can be. You were promised that your afflictions would not be greater than you could bear.

You came to this earth because you knew that you had a Heavenly Father who loved you and you wanted to become like him. You knew that he had traveled a similar path to develop into what he had become, a perfected, glorified being.

You knew that by coming to this earth, you would be tempted to make choices that were contrary to principles of happiness. While you came with a desire to make correct choices, having not yet been perfected, you knew that you would make mistakes. You knew that these unwise choices would keep you separated from your Father in heaven, forever, unless a way was provided for you to become, once again, without sin. So a plan of redemption was provided that would allow mercy to swallow up the demands of justice and enable you to be cleansed, and one day return to your Father in heaven. You understood that God would never interfere with your choices. This was his gift to you—your moral agency.

You also knew about an alternative plan that was presented that would have allowed you to avoid the suffering of this world. It would have produced a world without temptations and protected you from pain, suffering and sorrow. So convincing was its author that one-third of your brothers and sisters chose this alternative plan. But you understood that without adversity, no matter how painful it might be, you could not progress. This other plan would have eliminated your right to choose, which you knew was contrary to the will of God. With the alternative plan you would have remained sinless but innocent and, therefore, you would have experienced no progress.

We are here today because we chose to come here. We cannot remember these things for a wise and noble purpose—so that we could develop faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals things as they were; as they are; and as they will be. Our responsibility is to learn and grow and to partake in the plan of redemption, so that we might return to our Heavenly Father, and live with the other members of our earthly family as an eternal family.

We must discover for ourselves if the doctrine outlined here is true. If we find that it is true, then we will spend the rest of our lives learning the doctrine and exercising the principles that will lead to true happiness, in this world and in the world to come. In doing so, we will learn about faith, repentance, and the Holy Ghost, by which we may learn the truth of all things.

It is through the Holy Ghost that God reveals his will to men. As we endeavor to unravel the mysteries of this world with righteous pure intent, God inspires man, from the discovery of electricity to the invention of the computer. These “technologies” when used wisely provide benefit for man and provide the means to accomplish God’s purposes. For our own sake, we hope to discover early in this life that success is not measured by the size of our bank account, or by the size of a ring on our finger, but in the patience we develop, by our capacity to love our fellowman, and in the gratitude we acquire for all that our Heavenly Father has given us.

Thus, we can learn the purpose of life. Everything that we study in our scriptures leads to a greater understanding of the doctrine and the principles that we must learn to be truly happy. Everything that we do, all that we feel, can be explained as a result of learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the solution to the world’s problems, one person at a time. Putting your faith in anything other than Jesus Christ will only lead to heartache and disappointment. He is who He said He was, the Son of God, the truth, the way and the light. There is no other way.