Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Another Day Blessed By Our Great Savior, The Lord Jesus Christ

My Beloved Brethren Of The Great Plainview Texas Branch,

Today alone, I have seen the Hand of The Lord in working many.... mighty miracles. I say miracles because without his will they could not be done.

It was so awesome to be able to go out with our marvelous Elders, both Elder Tuttle and Elder Rymer (Whom by the grace of the Lord, and many many prayers has seen to keep these two mighty men of the Lord here in Plainview another set of weeks) and teach and testify of the divine mission of the Savior!

The Lord allowed me, to be able to go and share segments of the DVD Video (Special Witnesses Of Christ) to an investigator family. First, as is typical of all outings, we opened with prayer. The Spirit was very strong, perhaps, stronger than I can recall in most recent times, with exception to my Temple Visits and Baptism of my daughter.

The first clip we watched was of Elder Richard G. Scott of The Quorum Of The Twelve Apostles, concerning Baptism: Please, I now invite you to watch this clip here:



I also jointly testify with Richard G. Scott here, that following the example of the Savior, and being Baptized for the remission of sins, is truly what is taught by the Savior, and the only means of continuing our journey of which journey back to him comes as we know and follow the Principles & Ordinances of the Gospel, as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith:


"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." [See Articles Of Faith # 4 ]

Afterwards, we spoke briefly concerning Baptism. There were no questions from the investigators, but a wonderful feeling of peace and the Spirit were truly present. I felt it, and I saw the Spirit moving on the Mother of the investigator family, truly, my emotions were at the surface. After they understood why, and after they understood the significance of the Savior Himself being Baptized, we then moved on to another clip on that same DVD.

The next clip was from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of The Quorum Of The Twelve Apostles, his clip was concerning The Sacrament. The Sacrament has pivotal meaning, and a meaning that is taken much more lightly (In my own opinion) then it should be. It is to be a reminder of special covenants we made at our Baptism; I'll let The Apostle of The Lord explain it best here:



I love how he said, "... I testify that he lives, and loves us." I now add that to my testimony. Thinking that fills my soul with great joy and peace, and I will now say that always, knowing that the peace and joy I feel inside of me, is the peace and joy I know you will feel hearing, or, reading it.

Finally, the last clip we showed to this wonderful investigator family, of whom does indeed have a baptismal date set in March, was from our Beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson (Whom when the DVD was made in the year 2000, was a Counselor in the First Presidency when President Hinkley was our Prophet): This clip was of the red brick building that was the original press for the first copies of The Book Of Mormon to come off a press (From movable type) and some history concerning movable type, followed by a clip concerning the Hill Cumorah, where the Prophet Moroni has deposited the Plates of Brass, near 421 A.D., from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon nearly 1400 years later! Watch this!




That is such a powerful and motivating clip for me. We recently had a member in our Branch, whom is one i've been blessed to work with, whom had her cousin killed by brutal means at the hand of a Bounty Hunter from New Mexico. I shared that same scriptural message with her, from Alma 40... the peace it brought her was by no means speakable.

That was not the only blessed opportunity and situation of the night, as there were a few more. I wish to see how the fruits of those visits blossom during this next week, and will happily report next week on the blog, concerning them.

Finally, in a talk given by Elder Jeffrey Holland at the April 2007 Conference, (That I watched recently again) I caught sight of a few things he mentioned.... one which will now accompany our blog title because I love it so much! It says as follows:

"The Spirit of the Gospel is Optimistic; It trusts in God and looks on the bright side of things. The opposite or pessimistic spirit drags men down and away from God, looks on the dark side, murmurs, complains, and is slow to yield obedience." - Orson F. Whitney

I hope that makes you think, as it has me!! I love you brethren, truly, I do!

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