I gave a talk this past Sunday at church and of course it's about missionary work, so I thought it would be good to post on here. Enjoy!
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The Power of the Book of Mormon
I was asked to speak today about the power of the Book of Mormon. I tried to think of some crazy amazing experience that I’ve had but I couldn’t think of one in particular. My experiences with the Book of Mormon have been more like small and simple things that can bring to pass great things. I know that it is true. I know that it is the word of God written down by the prophets of old and translated in this dispensation by the prophet Joseph Smith. When I read the Book of Mormon daily I am happier and more Christ like. I would like to tell a story about my dad though, and his first experiences with the Church and the Book of Mormon.
First of all, I love my dad. He’s a convert to the church, the only member of his family and I don’t think I have thanked him enough for choosing to be baptized and enduring to the end. Recently, my little sister who left on a mission asked my dad to tell his conversion story, something that I had not heard all the way through. I mean, I knew some of the basics but not a lot of the details. My dad isn’t really a talker. So thankfully my dad wrote it down for her in a letter and my mom made copies for all the kids. Before this, I knew he was 26 years old living in a trailer in front of his friend’s house when he started looking for a church to go to. He had grown up going to the Lutheran church and visited some other churches since but he wasn’t interested in any of them. So he decided to pray. He had never prayed out loud before but that’s exactly what he decided to do: ask God which church he should go to. A couple of days later the missionaries started showing up at his friends house! An answer to prayers right?! Well my dad said he wasn’t interested. So he was still praying to find the right church and they showed up again! And again he said no. Then one day he said yes and he got baptized! And that’s pretty much all I knew, until my dad wrote it all down (importance of journaling, folks!). I want to read you a bit of what he wrote. I’m gonna start right after he rejected the missionaries the first time.
“A few days later, maybe a week, I still hadn’t found a church to go to, so I kneeled down again and asked God to help me find a church and have a better life. And again the missionaries knocked on the door of my friend’s home when I was the only one there. I answered the door and said “hello again.” They asked if my friends were home. I told them no and they asked me if I wanted to hear a message. I said “no thanks, maybe some other time” and said goodbye. I know what you’re thinking, I pray, they come, I pray, they come, but I did not catch on.
About a week later, I got home from work and needed to work on my car. I hadn’t noticed that the missionaries had come by. My friend was home and invited them in to talk. I had some car parts in my hand when I went around to a side door that went out onto the deck. I was using a hose just off the deck when I saw the missionaries sitting on chairs and my friend sitting on the couch. I opened the door and said “hello, what’s up?” My friend, Susan, said “these young ladies are talking about Jesus and His gospel”. I said “cool” and told them that I was working on my car. I went back to my project. I finished up and went back to my friend’s living room and they were still talking!
I asked if I could sit in and they said yes, but were just finishing up. They invited both of us to come to church on Sunday. They met at 1pm in Monroe, my home town. It was about 15 minutes away. We both said we had to work on Sundays, usually till 3 or 4 (we both worked at the same restaurant and I worked at the bakery too.)
They asked if they could bear their testimonies. I had never heard of this and didn’t know what they meant. My friend said “of course,” (she was very nice all the time and to everyone.) Sister Henry, from Idaho, gave us her testimony. I had never heard anyone talk like this before. I don’t remember much of what she said, but I did feel it. She talked about growing up on a farm and sometimes having to feed baby sheep, lambs, I guess, with bottles and relating this in some way to Jesus, saying “feed my sheep.”And that THAT was what she was doing in Clearview, Washington, FEEDING HIS SHEEP. They asked if they could come back and my friend made some excuses, but that if she was home and they knocked she would let them in.
A week went by and I was thinking about that testimony of Sister Henry’s. A week or two later on a Sunday, I was working at the bakery and just after noon I finished up. The boss didn’t have anything extra for me to do so he sent me home. I got home at 12:30. I thought to myself, “Maybe I should check out that Mormon church.” I didn’t have much time, but I put on my best clothes and got to church about 1:05. When I walked in they were singing a hymn, when they finished everyone got up like they were leaving. I seriously thought I had missed it. A ten minute service was kinda cool, if not too quick. I looked around and the people sitting around me started introducing themselves to me… The missionaries finally noticed and came over and explained what was happening. They had sacrament meeting last hour…
Again, I don’t remember what was talked about, but everyone was very nice. The ward mission leader took me to priesthood, where I stood up and introduced myself. Lots of people asked questions about where I lived and worked and why I was there… I really enjoyed priesthood, there were a lot of real men sitting around, discussing the gospel and how to really apply it in their lives. I had never been in a situation like that, ever. It was amazing. From there we went back in to the chapel… This must have been the first Sunday in September 1991 because it was fast sunday. Someone in the Bishopric talked a little bit, and then two of the young men got microphones from the front and stood facing us. When someone stood up, the closest boy would run to them and hand them the microphone. They started telling stories and saying that they believed in this church and the Book of Mormon. I remembered Sister Henry in my friend’s living room had said something similar. I could not believe the overwhelming feeling of the Holy Ghost almost filling me entirely up. I had never been in a church meeting and had these feelings. I was laughing and crying and almost in awe of the ease with which these people were talking about God and Jesus Christ and their tender feelings of a spiritual event in their lives, just right there in church in front of everyone.
I did know that all the people I met were good people and the men were real men, and I wanted to be a ‘real man.’ I truly wanted to be like them and have families like theirs. I hadn’t really been around real men with real families, and everyone seemed happy.
I spent the next two months meeting with the missionaries in the Richards’ home… I don’t remember all the lessons but I do remember thinking “yes, yes that’s what I think.”
My dad got baptized on November 12th. He finishes his story by saying, “I am grateful for missionaries, that they do something like knock on doors of people they don’t know, tell them their innermost thoughts and invite them to church. Complete strangers. I’m grateful for missionaries who listen to the Spirit and not to the dumb kid standing in the doorway saying “no thanks.” … Thank God for all missionaries.”
I know that missionary work would not be possible without the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon can teach boys how to be ‘real men’ like my dad saw in church that fast Sunday, and it can teach girls how to be strong women, just like I see in church every Sunday. I know that it teaches us to “not esteem one flesh above another” and to “preach of Christ and talk of Christ and prophecy of Christ.” It teaches us to defend our beliefs and fight for what is right. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and the moment you begin a serious study of that book “a power will begin to flow into your life,” just as President Benson once said.
In one of the last talks given by President Thomas S. Monson in April 2017, he invited each of us to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and said “My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives.”
I love this gospel and all that it teaches me. I am grateful for the 18 months that I had to testify of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and that I can continue to testify of its truthfulness. I know that the Book of Mormon has the power to change your life and the lives of generations to come. Read the book daily and feel the power come into your life.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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Citations
The Power of the Book of Mormon By President Thomas S. Monson
The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion by Ezra Taft Benson
Alma 37:6-7
2 Nephi 25:26
Mosiah 23:7
Alma 46
