"Oh that I were an Angel"

Hello everybody! First off, I found out I'm staying in Ridgecrest with Elder Bennett for another six weeks! I've been here a pretty long time now... By the end of this transfer, it will have been seven and a half months. The mission President told me that this should be my last transfer here though. It looks like this transfer should be a fantastic one too! We set another baptismal date with a large Hispanic family for March the fifth, and we are so excited for them. We are also planning to set another one in the near future. Needless to say, things are going really well out here! We could potentially have three baptisms this transfer. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Our next baptism should be on Feb. 12! I wanted to share with you all some verses in the Book of Mormon that have touched me lately. They are in Alma 29: 1-2. I'm sure you've heard these verses before. In them, Alma is talking about his desire to be a great missionary. He says: "Oh that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!" In this first verse, Alma talks about "Crying repentance" unto the people. When I used to read these words, I used to think, "Oh, if the people need to repent, it means they are wicked." I thought that missionaries need to tell people to repent because they are all wicked and doing wicked things. Alma then goes on and says: "Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God," So there he talks again about crying repentance, again I would think, "If people need to repent, they must be wicked." Then however, I read the last part of that verse. Alma says: "that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth." That is why we do missionary work. Not because the people are wicked and need to repent, but because we have important answers to life's questions. Every time somebody comes unto Christ, and makes that decision to follow Him, Satan's hold on the Earth gets a little weaker. Someday, there will be no more sorrow upon all the face of the Earth, because of Jesus Christ and His gospel. I am so honored and happy to be a part of that work, to remove sorrow from the Earth, one person at a time. I love you all!

Gifts and Blessings

First off I want to say thank you to everyone that wrote me for my birthday and sent me gifts. It means so much to me to have all of your support. I love you all and I wouldn't be the person I am if it weren't for your example to me. Thank you all. My birthday was fantastic. I got a GPS, The Book of Mormon for the LDS Family, A pillow tie (A tie that blows up so that you can sleep on it during long drives) a bunch of other ties, an electronic key chain with pictures of my family on it, a new wallet, and three cakes! On my birthday, we had three different people surprise us with cakes. By the third one, I was feeling pretty sick, but I had to eat some anyway. I'm sure those of you who have served missions know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. It was worse than Thanksgiving... I was SO full. It was a great day though. As far as the work, this has been a fantastic week. We set another baptismal date! Our newest investigator will be baptized on Feb. 12 (Hey, that's Liam's birthday). We are so excited for him. We have also made progress with many of our other investigators this week. We had an entire investigator family show up at church, and they had a great time. If things keep going well with them, we might be able to baptize an entire family! We have also been teaching a man who has been afraid of praying to ask if the Book of Mormon was true. He said he didn't feel worthy to pray. We had a lesson with him on Wednesday, and we told about the importance of prayer and that nobody was unworthy to pray. He agreed to say the closing prayer, and he asked if the Book of Mormon was true. It was one of the most heartfelt, sincere, moving prayers I have ever heard in my life. Everyone in the room was literally in tears when the prayer was over. What a blessing it was to be able to experience that. I know he is going to receive his answer soon. When he does, it will change his life. It certainly changed mine when I found out this gospel was true. I want you all to know that I do know, with all of my heart, that this gospel is true. It has given me hope, comfort, and strength to keep pressing forward even in my darkest hour. I am so grateful to God for loving us enough to give us the gift of His Son. I am so grateful for my privilege to spread His gospel for two years. Love you all!

The Truthfulness of the Book of Mormon

So... Pretty much I'm turning twenty tomorrow. Twenty. I keep telling myself that and it still doesn't quite feel real. Today is my last day being a teenager... Wow. I'm so old. Anyway, things are going well In Ridgecrest. We received a referral from a family in one of our wards, and things are progressing really well with him. The last time we taught him, he talked about how reading the book of Mormon has been changing his life. He said he felt more peaceful, more hopeful, and happier than he has felt in a long time. We testified to him that The Book of Mormon was the word of God, and that when we read it, the spirit testifies to us of it's truthfulness. I told him that when I was younger that I often took reading the scriptures for granted. I would often go long periods of time without reading anything at all. Now, I kick myself for that. I had the answer to ALL of life's questions in my hands, and I wasn't reading it. I have come to know now, more than I ever have before in my life, of the truthfulness and power of The Book of Mormon. That book speaks directly to my heart when I read it, and I always find ways I can improve or things the Lord wants me to learn. There is absolutely no possible way that Joseph Smith (who was about my age when the book was published) could've made that thing up. The other day, we knocked into a family who was trying to bash with us, and they told us that Joseph Smith was a con man, and that he made up The Book of Mormon. I responded "If Joseph Smith was a con man, then I wish there were more con men in the world, because the book that he brought into the world has changed the lives of over tens of millions of people, including mine." Those people still rejected our testimony, but that's alright. How lucky we are for our freedom to choose. I just wanted to let you all know that I am as sure as I have ever been about anything in my life, that The Book of Mormon is true. I know that it is. I love Elder Holland's words when he talks about Joseph Smith and the Book:


"When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:


“Thou hast been faithful; wherefore … thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. “And now I, Moroni, bid farewell … until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.”

A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators.

As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon."

Joseph and his brother Hyrum were willing to die, to be executed, rather than deny what they knew to be true. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and his diligence in bringing us The Book of Mormon, even though the very people he was working to help, condemned him to die. That book is the word of God. The way anyone can know that, is by simply reading it and asking God if it's true. It will change your life, I promise you. I love you all!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! Can you believe it's 2011? It's crazy. Even more crazy is the fact that I will be twenty in eight days! That is so weird for me. I will be twenty. I will no longer be a teenager. Weird... Anyway, Things have been going really well here in Ridgecrest. We have gotten a few referrals, some of which look really promising. We also had about four inches of snow this morning! Snow in California? It reminds me a lot of home, where I'm sure there is snow right now. New years Eve we aren't allowed to be out any later than seven at night, and that is one of the two nights in the year when we are allowed to watch tame movies. So we stayed at home and watched "Despicable Me." I really liked it, but I was SO tired being up that late. I just am not used to staying up that late anymore. This week, I would invite you all to read Moses 7: 28-33. I really love these verses. This is Enoch, when he sees a vision of all the heavens. He sees the Lord, and he is shocked at what he sees Him doing. I'll let you read to find out. These verses have really helped me see just how much the Lord loves and knows each of us. I hope you enjoy them. I love and miss you all, and I hope you are all being abundantly blessed in all that you do.