Hey Fam!
This week was fantastic! We got to drive to Helena for
Missiona Leadership Council and the drive there was incredible! I am so
blessed to get to serve in such a beautiful area of the world. We get to
have our Zone Conference here in Missoula tomorrow so all the missionaries from
Kalispell and Stevensville will be here along with President and Sister
Mecham. I love these meetings and they have all been really musical
lately which I have grown to love. We are going to sing at this one which
is new for me I know but we practiced and I think it actually sounded pretty
good!
We got to visit a ton of people this week and had some
really good lessons. There are people all over that are so prepared by
the Lord to receive the Gospel! We taught a new investigator on
Monday and he has been meeting with missionaries for quite some time but has
never committed to anything. He had not been to church in a very long
time either. His wife is a member of the Church and it seemed he really only
would listen to the missionaries because she would ask him. We had our
first lesson with him Monday night and really just established his needs and
discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We ended up going through the promise
that Moroni gives to all who are seeking confirmation of Truth from the Holy
Ghost (Moroni Chapter 10:3-5). We had a very inspired discussion about how this
formula works. We talked about how the difference of reading something
and receiving something is the state of mind we are in and how to be qualified
to receive an answer from God we must have a grateful mind. We discussed
how when we ask God, in the name of Christ, if something is not true we are
asking in a way that God can confirm the truth. He did not understand
this at first but we showed him in the Scriptures how the purpose of the Holy
Ghost is to testify of Truth (John 15:26) and in order for Him to do so we must
have made up our mind about the subject we are asking. It is the
difference in asking,"Father, is the Book of Mormon true?"
and,"Father, I believe the Book of Mormon was written and translated by
Prophets and contains thy Words, please confirm this to me." That is
the difference. Moroni also says we must have a sincere heart, real
intent, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said he had prayed this
way before and had not received an answer and I felt prompted to ask him if he
had real intent or if he was willing to do something if God gave him the answer
he was seeking. We showed him in the scriptures how if anyone receives a
confirmation form God that something is true and then turns their back on that
answer that God says, "...it would have been better for you that ye had
not known me." (2 Nephi 31:14) We testified that God will not give
him an answer unless he is willing to act on it because if he received the
answer and just said, "Well that was good to know but I don't wana
change" then God would be condemning him and God loves each of us way too
much to ever do that.
Before arriving at his home Elder Bishop and I had prayed to
know what date this investigator would be prepared to be baptized on and we
both felt he would be ready by April 12th. At this point in the lesson we
invited him to show God his real intent along with his sincere heart and Faith
in Christ by preparing himself to be baptized on the 12th of April. We
explained that Christ never healed anyone without them first showing forth some
sort of faith and by committing to a date he would be showing God he had real intent
and would be ready by that date. We promised him as set apart
representatives of Jesus Christ that he would receive an answer and know the
Church was true and everything we had taught him thus far was true. He
agreed to the date contingent upon himself receiving an answer before the day
arrived. We left his home. We came back on friday and had another
lesson. He was kinda smirking as we started the discussion so we asked
him what happened. He said that one night as he was praying he told
Heavenly Father that he believed the things we had taught him and asked for
confirmation if the Book of Mormon was the word of God. He said he waited
and waited and then felt some sort of warm burning feeling that he has only
felt before when he is with his family and up in his cabin in the woods.
He then asked if Joseph Smith was a Prophet and said the feeling intensified
and then he asked if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was His
Church and he said he was completely overcome by the feeling. I thought
it was funny because he sounded a little annoyed because from that point in the
night the feeling stayed with him and kept him awake all night! He looked
us dead in the eye and said he now knows without a doubt that God has restored
His Church today through a Prophet and that he will be baptized on the 12th of
April. I was ecstatic! I am so grateful to be a witness of
such great miracles and to see my brothers and sisters find truth in their
lives. I know that God answers prayers. I know that Moroni was
inspired by God to give us that formula to find truth and we can know the truth
of all things, according to the will of God, by applying it in our lives.
I know that God restored His Church on earth today and that we can find
everlasting happiness and peace by reading the scriptures and applying the
words of the prophets in our own lives. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.
I am grateful for all of you and the love and support I
receive from you. Thanks for all you do for me. I love you all!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Elder Holland
P.S.
- everything on understanding Moroni's Promise can be found in the talk,
"Moroni's Promise" By Elder Gene R. Cook on LDS.org!
Jaromy showed me the talk when he was here and it has changed my life and I
invite you all to read it!!
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