Wow, it was SOO wonderful to talk to you guys on Christmas!!!!!! I can´t believe that Devin can speak Spanish SOOO WELL already! I am SO proud :) He´s going to be a Spanish Rockstar by the end of his mission! I hope you had a wonderful day and that it was great!
Well, it´s been really exciting around here! First off....David Archuleta came to give all of the youth and young single adults here a fireside....OH MY GOSH COOL! We had a girl from Peru come, Angie, that has been interested in the church for a while now and she loved it! There was an incredible Spirit there and it turned out so well. Music really does have a powerful way of inviting the Spirit :) They have alot of lights up at the temple too so that just added even more to the Christmas spirit. It was so great!
Also, the next day, all of the missionaries had a special Christmas Devotional....and guess who came again....David Archuleta! Haha...ok, we were just a little excited :) we all got to meet him and talk to him for a bit! SO COOL! I got to play the violin with President Jackson while he played the accordion and Elder Dampt from our stake also played the guitar! Also, as part of the Devotional, President Jackson shared a message about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We were challenged to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year and wow, the Book of Mormon is incredible.
As we know from the story, when Joseph was younger, he had a serious infeccion in his bone, and the doctors thought that they would have to amputate his leg. But, luckily, there was a special procedure that the doctors had never successfully completed, but thought it would be worth trying, instead of having to ampute his leg. Because President Jackson is a surgeon, he actually has performed the same surgery that was performed on Joseph Smith, that now a days has been successfully completed. President actually showed us a clip of the entire surgery that he performed on another patient who had the same problem. WOW! He had to cut into each layer of skin little by little till he got to the bone, and then had to cut out the infected part of the bone, literally with a drill and a special saw!!! And the guy he was performing the surgery on was completing knocked out. It was crazy to think about how Joseph Smith underwent such a surgery, not having any kind of medication to knock him out or to ease the pain, but only in the arms of his dad. Wow, the Lord provided the way for Joseph to make it through such a traumatic surgery and to miraculously be able to walk again. It gave me even greater appreciation for what he went through at such a young age. And that was just at the beginning of his life! Later in his life, he went through so much to restore the Gospel back to the earth, to translate the Book of Mormon, amidst so much persecution and hardship. I have really been thinking alot about Joseph Smith and how much we can relate with him in our life. Here was a young, uneducated boy, who God appeared to and called him to be a prophet. I think alot of times we just subconsciously think that because he was called to be a prophet of God that all of a sudden he just magically knew how to be a prophet and accomplish everything. Just like us, he also learned little by little, not understanding the way before him or how things would work out. But, he saw God. And he KNEW that he saw God and He could not deny that fact. He literally saw our Heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ and they literally told him that none of the churches on the earth at that time were true because he asked. Can you imagine how he felt? What an incredible answer for a 14-year-old boy to receive! I imagine that he couldn´t stop thinking about what an incredible sight he had just seen. So, because he saw God and he could not deny that, he knew that God was listening and that God DOES communicate with his children on the earth. And because of that fact, he knew he could trust in God. Yet, God didn´t tell him everything to do all at once. Just like in our lives, God prepared Joseph little by little. When Joseph had been given the instruction to translate the Book of Mormon and when he also received the revelations now known as Doctrine & Covenants, he himself was confused about where to get the authority to be baptized. Who would have thought....a prophet of God didn´t know what to do about such an important thing in the church! Again, proof, that the Lord only gave him little by little, and as he acted in faith, every time with what the Lord gave him, the Lord then gave him more until finally the Gospel was restored in it´s fullness, never to be taken from the earth again. That is incredible to me. To recognize that even a prophet of God, Joseph Smith, didn´t know all that he had to do to accomplish what the Lord asked him to do. It´s another way that makes him more relatable to us....we certainly don´t know what life holds in store for us. And yeah....maybe we´re not a prophet of God, but the Lord guides each of us, and gives us what we need, when we need it. And the fact that Joseph Smith received an answer directly from God as a result of the question that Joseph Smith had..."which church of all the churches has the truth?"....the fact that the Lord appeared to him and answered his question by restoring the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ back to the earth through Joseph....that is proof that the Lord STILL communicates with his children.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Just as he spoke through his chosen prophets all throughout history, he still speaks through a prophet today. He still communicates with his children, collectively and personally. There is no doubt in my mind that our living prophet today, President Thomas S. Monson, continues to speak for the Lord today because he continues to have the authority to do so. I am so grateful to Joseph Smith, for his faith amidst all of the opposition that he faced, to accept the call to be the Lord´s prophet on the earth, to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ back to the earth in it´s fullness. I know that Joseph received the Authority to establish Christ´s church once again directly from the Lord and that through him we now have the Gospel spreading throughout all the world today. So many people don´t know this! And whether they know it or not, they will know it some day. They will know that the Book of Mormon IS the word of God and that it is a real record of real people who had real experiences amidst real opposition, but who also experienced real joy. It is a testament of Christ and testifies of his coming to America to visit the people in ancient America there after his death and resurrection.
I love this scripture that talks about the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 33:10-11
10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.
11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.
How powerful is that? If anyone truly searches, reads, ponders and prays about the Book of Mormon, He will know that they are the words of Christ, and that they were brought forth for our day, and that no one could have just made all this up. It´s not possible that an uneducated 14-year-old could have just given us all the information we need to give us the fullness of Christ´s Gospel. It could have only been given through the power of the Lord. I know that I have felt this testifying power in my heart, of the reality of the Book of Mormon, and of the reality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am so grateful to know these things and I know that this knowledge will bless every honest seeker of truth. And if we know that God restored his Gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith, and that through him the Priesthood Authority of God has been restored to the earth, then we know that we still have a living prophet of God who still speaks for the Lord and who gives us sound counsel directly from God. How could anyone not want counsel from the creator of the world, an all knowing being who knows everything and who can see everything. That is a powerful reality. I am grateful to know that we still have a living prophet on the earth today and I know that he truly does give us the counsel we need to help us through this life and all of the challenges we face, personally, as families, as a society, politcally, socially, everything! The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the answer for every problem that we face in this life if we will just living according to it´s principles, the principles that Christ himself gave us.
I just wanted to share these things with you. I am so grateful to be a missionary, testifying of these things every day. It is such a privilege and blessing and I know that the Lord is blessing us and the people we talk with even if we may not see immediate results.
I hope you all have a wonderful break!!!!!!! I LUUURRRVVE YOU! :)
BY THE WAY! Did you see Brother Bigler on the Church Website...from the Phoenix temple dedication! Haha with his son....I can´t remember which son it is...but so cool!
Anyway........que tengan una semana buenisima y Feliz Año Nuevo!!!
Hermana Carroll
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