I took notes during the last devotional, and am just getting around to putting them down here in this journal.
Elder Howard talked about the change that occurs on a
mission. He read from Mosiah 5:2: “And they all cried with one voice, saying:
Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know
of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which
has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more
disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” He talked about the change that has occurred
in himself, and the change he has seen in converts to the church.
Tim Cormier spoke next.
He is a recent convert. He was a
Catholic. He said growing up, he had
always been taught “if the missionaries come, lock the door, shut the
blinds”. But, he knew some Mormon
friends, and thought of them as being nice, kind, loving people. In fact, he said at one point he said of
himself that he wanted to be as nice, kind and loving as a Mormon person. His wife, Lia, also spoke at the
meeting. She said she was a practicing
Catholic. She had a friend for 10 years
who was a Mormon. This friend would
invite her to Relief Society activities, which she enjoyed attending. There was never any pressure to join the
church. She was accepted as she was.
Then, they came to a point that they were going through some
trials. Also, their 9 year old daughter
wanted to go to the Mormon church with her friends around that time. After attending for 5 months, the daughter
said she wanted to be baptized. Her
parents tried talking her out of it. One
day, Lia was feeling ill, and got a blessing from some priesthood holders. She started asking them some questions about
the church, and said her daughter had said she wanted to be baptized. The parents decided they needed to attend
church to see more about it before giving permission to the daughter to be
baptized. They were very welcomed; and Lia said they
learned more in 1 hour than her whole life in her Catholic church. They gave permission to their daughter to be
baptized, and they were baptized about a week after her. Lia said they have 3 more kids to go [older
children, teenagers, who aren’t interested right now], and they will get there
someday!
Elder Platt told about a little boy, I think a relative, who had been in Salt Lake City with his
family, and had been in a shop and he saw a truck he loved, and wouldn’t put it
down, so the parents had to buy it, because when they tried to take it away
from him he had a fit. I think he was
about 3. Anyway, they did some touring
around Temple Square, the little boy, named Noah, still holding on to his
truck. Well, in the North visitors
center, they got to the statue of Christ, and Noah set aside his truck for the
first time, walked up to the statue and put out his arms and said “up”. Elder Platt said we need to be like Noah, set
aside what we think we have to carry, our burdens, our busy lives, and remember
that Christ has said “come unto me ye who are heavy burdened”.
We had a beautiful musical number by Elders Dryden, Billin,
Jackson, and Clark, accompanied by Sister Clarke…..”Come Thou Fount of Every
Blessing”.
Elder Vasquez said Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in a talk about
missionary work said: “We are in an
outstanding business, and business is booming!” He also talked about playing the guitar a
little, and visiting his Uncle Manny in Mexico who was a great guitar
player. His uncle wanted to play a song
together, but Elder Vasquez declined because he wasn’t very good…not as good as
his uncle. After they left his uncle,
several months later, his uncle died. He
regretted that he didn’t play with his Uncle Manny.
Elder Dryden: learned
so much at the MTC, came here and learned so much more. He said he was thankful to have his faith
tested and proved.
Elder Rollins: used
to wrestle. He said he didn’t like
wrestling, but loved winning. The hard
work paid off. On his mission, he didn’t
like work, but loved his Father in Heaven. And loved watching the gospel change
people’s lives.
Sister Packer: talked
about the changes in people that she saw, her testimony of the Book of Mormon
and of Jesus Christ.
Another musical number:
“Because He Lives” by Elders
Platt and Woodbrey, accompanied by Elder Butcher.
Elder Lewis:
Testimony is found in the bearing of it (Brigham Young)
Sister Watkins:
Hastening of the work. Number
increased from 200 to 280’s. Faith is
hope, hope leads us to action.
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