So this past week has been amazing.
We had an awesome day last Wednesday. To start the day off, we woke up on time (woot!) and did the whole "get ready and study" routine. Then, we walked to our appointment we had with Lee Bryant, a new investigator who bore his testimony last Sunday. He told us how he was raised Catholic and how nothing made sense to him. He loves the church because it all makes sense to him. He told us how he loves that the church is so family oriented. So, we taught him the plan of salvation and asked him which of the three kingdoms did he want to go to. He said he qualifies for the second one (terrestrial). His wife, who's a member, told him that's not what we asked. We asked which one does he want to get to. He said the Celestial kingdom. Then we told him to do that he needs to be baptized by the proper authority. So we set him with a baptism date for April 16th!
That's just what happened in the middle of the day. We still have the rest of the day to cover.
Then, we were sitting in the car and were talking about something in the scriptures, and I randomly flipped to Matt. 24:15 and it talks about the abomination of desolation. I asked myself "what the heck is that?" and then proceeded to look it up. I then read Daniel 9:27 and the Spirit took the Paddle of Sudden Revelation and about knocked me out of the car smacking me in the face with the Paddle. (Translation: I've never had that strong of a revelation about the scriptures in my life) And it all came in about half a second. I suggest studying those scriptures. It talks about the plan of salvation in it and the end of the world.
Then, we went to our last lesson for the day. We've been working with this guy for a long time now and it's been difficult because we've been going about it the wrong way. So we sat down and taught him the plan of salvation. The lesson went pretty similar to the lesson we had earlier that day with Lee. Except Jay has no religious background whatsoever.... at all..... seriously. His dad was a mountain man and all he taught him about God or religion was that there was a Great Spirit, that's it. But as we've been going over to his house and teaching him he's slowly come to know more. But he still didn't really know God was there for him. As we were teaching him we asked him the same question we asked Lee: Which kingdom do you want to go to. He was honest and said he was most likely headed for the Terrestrial kingdom, but he said he wanted to go to the Celestial. We said the first step is to pray to our Heavenly Father. His wife, who is a member, said "Well, I think the first step would be knowing that God is really there." It clicked in my head right there: He needs to pray to know if God is there. So we asked him to do that. He said he would try, and we asked what would keep him from doing that. He said he might forget. We asked him to pray right there with us. He did.
As he was praying, everything went still. Even there 9 month old son was still and quiet. Jay asked if God was there. He said "Please let me know that you're there and you're true". I testify to you that the Heavens truly opened, and God's love was truly there, and that the Spirit was more overwhelming than any other time in my life. Elder Holland explains what happened better than I could in his talk called The Divine Companionship. He says, (I'm paraphrasing), that when we've done enough, and are unified with the Spirit and the investigator, God says "It is enough. Let us give them a taste of what our unity is like." There is nothing on earth that can duplicate that feeling. The overwhelming sense of God's presence in your very living room, or wherever you are.
God truly does, and truly will, answer the prayers of those who ask in humility and honesty; who ask with full purpose of heart with every fiber of there being. Of this I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-Elder Ricky-dude.
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P.S. The Church is true!
P.P.S. FROG - Fully Rely On God
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