This week was sweet.
Happy 4th!
Went on 2 more exchanges into English again! The first was on Tuesday
in a walking area that covers the Mesa temple. That's beautiful over
there. It's strange sometimes when I go there to think that I was
visiting that temple when I was 14 on the way to Philmont. For our
morning exercise we walked around the temple. If I lived over there I
would true biz do that every morning.
On that day we met a man who is no longer involved with the church. He
told us that he believes in Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon but
not the first vision. And that Brigham young ruined the church. Which
is not true whatsoever. 2 things, 1 each of us is born with the Light
of Christ to be able to discern what is true and 2 When things like
that don't fit together in our mind or don't seem right then it isn't!
Also why would God allow Brigham young ruin his church after all that
happened with Joseph smith, the first vision, and the Book of Mormon.
We can't let things we find on the Internet or what other people say
weaken our testimony, keep what you know to be true and hold in close.
Hold to the iron rod and don't let the great and spacious building get
to you.
Then on Saturday in a biking area. We saw many miracles that day.
Miracles always happen on exchanges (with faith). We went and read the
Book of Mormon Alma 34 with one investigator in that area she is close
to baptism. She has been sick due to getting stung by a scorpion, we
offered her a blessing and it was her first one. By the end of it she
started crying, the spirit was so strong there.
Then later that day we visited with a LA and read/listened to the Book
of Mormon and it just so happened to be the same chapter I studied
that week. Alma 30 it's about Korihor. I love that chapter. We shared
with him a story In the institute book, the Book of Mormon student
manual on gospel library it has stories and explanations from prophets
about the Book of Mormon. In that under Alma 30:15-16 it shares a
story about President Packer meeting an atheist on a plane ride who
told him there was no God and there's no proof of God. I suggest you
read this, it may help you in the future. "President Boyd K. Packer,
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, described an
experience he had that illustrated the fact that spiritual matters do
not typically include the common five senses:
“I will tell you of an experience I had before I was a General
Authority which affected me profoundly. I sat on a plane next to a
professed atheist who pressed his disbelief in God so urgently that I
bore my testimony to him. ‘You are wrong,’ I said, ‘there is a God. I
know He lives!’
“He protested, ‘You don’t know. Nobody knows that! You can’t know it!’
When I would not yield, the atheist, who was an attorney, asked
perhaps the ultimate question on the subject of testimony. ‘All
right,’ he said in a sneering, condescending way, ‘you say you know.
Tell me how you know.’
“When I attempted to answer, even though I held advanced academic
degrees, I was helpless to communicate.
“Sometimes in your youth, you young missionaries are embarrassed when
the cynic, the skeptic, treat you with contempt because you do not
have ready answers for everything. Before such ridicule, some turn
away in shame. (Remember the iron rod, the spacious building, and the
mocking? See 1 Ne. 8:28.)
“When I used the words Spirit and witness, the atheist responded, ‘I
don’t know what you are talking about.’ The words prayer, discernment,
and faith, were equally meaningless to him. ‘You see,’ he said, ‘you
don’t really know. If you did, you would be able to tell me how you
know.’
“I felt, perhaps, that I had borne my testimony to him unwisely and
was at a loss as to what to do. Then came the experience! Something
came into my mind. And I mention here a statement of the Prophet
Joseph Smith: ‘A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of
the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure
intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas
… and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may
grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in
Christ Jesus.’ (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph
Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1977, p. 151.)
“Such an idea came into my mind and I said to the atheist, ‘Let me ask
if you know what salt tastes like.’
“‘Of course I do,’ was his reply.
“‘When did you taste salt last?’
“‘I just had dinner on the plane.’
“‘You just think you know what salt tastes like,’ I said.
“He insisted, ‘I know what salt tastes like as well as I know anything.’
“‘If I gave you a cup of salt and a cup of sugar and let you taste
them both, could you tell the salt from the sugar?’
“‘Now you are getting juvenile,’ was his reply. ‘Of course I could
tell the difference. I know what salt tastes like. It is an everyday
experience--I know it as well as I know anything.’
“‘Then,’ I said, ‘assuming that I have never tasted salt, explain to
me just what it tastes like.’
“After some thought, he ventured, ‘Well-I-uh, it is not sweet and it
is not sour.’
“‘You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.’
“After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not
convey, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I
bore testimony to him once again and said, ‘I know there is a God. You
ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able
to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I
have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words how this
knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like. But
I say to you again, there is a God! He does live! And just because you
don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!’
“As we parted, I heard him mutter, ‘I don’t need your religion for a
crutch! I don’t need it.’
“From that experience forward, I have never been embarrassed or
ashamed that I could not explain in words alone everything I know
spiritually” (“The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, Jan. 1983, 51–52)."
Do not let your faith be dwindled by things of the world.
On Friday we had a mission tour with our new Mission President,
President and Sister Townsend. They are from Washington. They also are
very humble and recognize that they can not do this all on their own.
I'm excited to work with them.
Yesterday we found out that one of our investigators went to the
hospital so we went and visited her and gave her a blessing
Love y'all have a fun safe week!
Elder Stotts
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