Week 5

Holy Cow I've been here for over a month. It seriously doesn't feel like that. I feel like I've been here for maybe a week and a half. Wowzers. 

Well, Christmas does not feel like it was a few days ago. It was a good day, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't feel like it’s the end of December and about to be 2018. But the days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were pretty eventful.

Christmas Eve went a little like this:

Woke up and had Breakfast.

Elder McCown and I taught Priesthood. It was really good. We taught about The Apostasy, the Restoration, and the Priesthood. Everyone in the class was participating and we learned a lot from each other.

District Meeting was good, as it always is. The new District Leader, Elder Hansen, is really good. We've become pretty good friends. Sadly, he is going to Rosario, not Santa Fe.

After District Meeting was Sacrament. It was really good. The talks that were given were awesome, and I learned a lot, both from the speakers, and from the Spirit.

We had lunch and went back to our District Floor for some leadership and teacher training classes.

After that, Elder McCown and I went to choir practice. I love it. The director is a really awesome and funny guy and always shares amazing and Spiritual experiences. We learned a song that we sang for our Christmas speaker the next day. Then, the MTC President and his wife set up a really super cheesy, but still Spiritual Nativity Program. The actors were mostly some of the MTC Presidency's grandkids, which was funny but cute at the same time. My favorite part was at the very end when President Martino asked his grandkids what they can do because of Jesus. One of the boys stood up and said "I can be a missionary like all of them" while pointing at all of us missionaries in the crowd. It made me choke up and almost lose my composure. When everyone was talking about it later, all the Elders said they were balling throughout the entire program.

After dinner, we watched a movie called Christmas for a Dollar, which had to have been the cheesiest movie I've ever seen. But hey, it was a movie none the less, and everyone in the MTC loved it. They were yelling and clapping and having a great time through the whole movie.

For Christmas, I woke up and opened my presents. I got some awesome gifts from my family, including my new favorite tie. I’ll send some pictures of it all.  After breakfast, we had another movie. This time it was the really old version of the Christmas Carol. Like with the other movie, if I was outside of the MTC or back home, I never would have watched it. But here, it was awesome and funny. After the movie, I got to call the family and talk to them for 30 minutes. I loved it, especially since we weren’t expecting to be able to talk while I was here in the MTC. They seem to be doing really well without me there.

Later that day was the Christmas Day Devotional. It was really good. The Apostle that came and spoke was Neil L. Anderson. He gave a really good talk about Jesus and how he is our advocate in all things. We sang our song for him, and it was really powerful and amazing. Afterwards, he went around and shook hands with a few people. I didn’t get to shake his hand, but it was still really cool to be in the same room as him for a little bit.

We went to our classroom and took our sack dinners to talk about what we had learned from the talk and what other things we have been pondering and thinking a lot about. It was really Spiritual and inspiring.

On the schedule we were sent in our Emails, the last part of the day was set apart for another devotional. So when we got to our seats, we were expecting to have another hour long talk. But when a member of the Presidency stood and announced who was speaking for that time, we were all surprised to hear that David Archuleta and a girl by the name of Madelyn Paige were going to sing for us. So that was an awesome surprise. And after the amazing singing and testimonies and mission stories, they let all of the missionaries go up on stage and shake their hands. It was pretty sweet.

The rest of the week wasn’t too eventful

Wednesday we had our first Skype TRC. That was not my favorite thing in the world. The people we teach are from all across the world. They volunteer to have us teach them lessons every Wednesday. So that part is really cool. They come to us with really questions and problems and we are there to help them receive answers and some closer to Christ through our lessons. But there are all sorts of technical difficulties and problems that are tough to deal with. Our member that we taught was from Argentina which was cool. She lives in Buenos Aires. But she was Skyping us through her phone and we couldn’t really understand her. And the camera wasn’t working so that was pretty lame.

We had our last lesson with Mauricio last week, before Christmas. So this week for TRC’s we had two lessons with a guy named Jamie. He is from Chile, has a wife, daughter, and son and is just a good man. If he commits to something, he does it. So he was a great investigator. We only had two lessons and had just got through talking about the Book of Mormon. But the trio companionship in my district also taught him for a few lessons and he committed to baptism. It’s awesome. 

After we had our second lesson with Jamie, we don’t have anymore TRC’s. So companionship’s from our district and the other district that we reported with teach each other. It’s been pretty good practice. It helps me view our teaching from the investigators eyes.

Hermano Agyin has to leave yesterday so he won’t be teaching us anymore. He is a really cool guy. I don’t think I told you guys about him before, but he got back from his mission to Mendoza, Argentina about 6 months ago. He shared some awesome stories with us and help me a lot with my not-so-perfect-but-improving-Spanish. He also told me that he knew Elder Shields which was really cool. But he said goodbye and we got pictures and his email. We also have another teacher, Hermana Fletcher. She went on her mission to Chile and is more of a doctrine teacher than a Spanish teacher. Of course, all of our lessons are in Spanish, but we aren’t just learning Spanish with her. She is staying through the holidays because her family lives close. Her younger bother also just reported to the MTC last week so they get to see each other every so often.

Let’s see what else...

I’ve started playing four square during exercise time. That’s pretty fun. The food still isn’t the best, but it’s better than nothing so I am thankful.

Oh! We got our travel plans with Airline departure times and stuff! We leave on the 8th, fly from SLC to Atlanta. Stay there for a little bit, then fly all the way down to Buenos Aires in one flight. The plans say that we leave at 9:50 at night and land at 9:50 the next morning. So 12 hours, but a 10 hour trip with the time change. 

And today, we have been assigned to help clean the temple. It has been closed for the last two weeks. I’m looking forward to spending the 3 hours in the temple or on the grounds helping it look amazing. It’ll give me all sorts of time just to think and ponder

Awesome. Well, I do enjoy getting emails from you guys. I can’t wait for next week. I will try to send more pictures next week. I've had so many cool experiences and learned a lot while still having fun and feeling the spirit.

Love, 

Elder Haley

My gifts from home, plus my PJ's and ornament I opened on Christmas Eve

We opened our gifts together since we are "family".  It was so much better than opening them alone!

You can see me in the window taking the picture.

Our District saying goodbye to Hermano Agyin

Week 4

Well so far Christmas is kicking me in the booty. I find myself being distracted and focusing more on home than anything else. Of course that isn't a bad thing on its own, but when we are supposed to be studying basically 24/7 and practicing Spanish all the time, home honestly isn't the priority. But, it does give me motivation to think of all my family and friends back home and everywhere these emails get sent. I know that you guys are looking out for me and expecting me to work hard and get lost in the service of others. So I'm working on that. 

But other than that, the week wasn't too bad. Our fireside on Sunday was alright. A MTC service director and his family and a few friends sang the entire time. It was good. A lot of really cool guys left this week though. Its weird to think about now, because it seems like such a long time ago, but 2 older districts left on Monday and Tuesday. They went to all sorts of countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador, California, and probably some others that I can't remember right now. They were all pretty cool. When I first got here, they seemed so much older than me. But by the end of the 3 weeks that I knew them, they just seemed like old friends. I'll miss most of them. 

This Sunday, my time as a District Leader came to an end. They change who it is halfway through the MTC. I loved the position. Honestly, getting mail was sometimes the best part of my morning. Even though I don't have the official title anymore, I can still serve those in my district. Monday was pretty lame because everyone left, but we had a lesson with Mauricio that went pretty well. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and how God loves us and wants us to return to live with him. We know from John in the Bible that God gave his son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and Redeemer. Spanish and Doctrine classes throughout the week have been really good. We are learning a lot about the different tenses and how to conjugate the words. We have also been focusing a lot on how to teach Investigators and other people with Love and Charity. We want to teach them as though they are our best friends. We have to look at them the same way our Heavenly Father looks that them. 

On Tuesday, a few more people left. The people who left on Tuesday were supposed to leave on Sunday, but their flights were cancelled because of something like a power outage in the Atlanta airport. So they came back on Sunday night at dinner and gave us all a nice surprise. Our devotional on Tuesday night was really good. Elder Brian K. Taylor spoke to us on the Atonement and a little on having our own Sacred Grove experiences. It was a really spiritual message and I learned a lot. He showed a lot of pictures of the murals in the new MTC class buildings. I am planning to go around and get pictures of all the murals sometime this week and will send the pictures to you guys. They are crazy awesome and really depict the stories they are about. Right now, my favorite is the one of Moses parting the Red Sea. 

Wednesday was just a normal day. Oh wait. No it wasn't! My district and I got to be Hosts for the new missionaries that came in this week. It was actually really awesome and fun. I got to Host 4 different guys. They are going to Canada, Houston, Iowa, and France. It made me feel really old and experienced to tell them about the MTC and answer any questions they had. Our lesson with Mauricio that night went pretty well. We finished teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. He finally read the Book of Mormon. We had been asking him to read for the past few lessons, and he always said he would. But when we would follow up with him, he had never read. But he read the Introduction and came with a few questions that we answered pretty well. And since then, he had started to read in Nephi and is feeling the Spirit as he does so, even though he doesn't recognized it as the spirit. He just knows that he feels more peaceful and not at stressed when he reads and prays. 

Thursday was a typical day in the MTC. During exercise time that day, I realized just how out of shape I was. As I played basketball, I was basically dying trying to play defense and run for loose balls. So I started to short workouts after exercise time. A few sit ups and push ups have really helped me feel better and not as slow throughout my entire day. Our lesson with Mauricio that night was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We got through most of it, but he had a lot of questions that we got stuck on. Before our lesson though, I said a small prayer and asked for God to help me understand what Mauricio was saying and to know what to say to answer his questions. Our lesson really went away from our plans and I was having trouble answering questions the way I wanted. So afterwards, I said another small prayer and asked my Heavenly Father why I hadn't had the lesson I was expecting. I received a small but very true answer. I just haven't been working hard enough. God can only help me if I work as hard as I can first. He's not going to just give me what I want, because I ask for it. I have to work hard and deserve his help. So I've made a goal for this week to work harder and to study better and more focused than I ever have. 

Friday was good. We had our first class with Hermano Agyin. He is a really cool guy and just got off his mission from Mendoza Argentina 6 months ago. I asked him if he knew an Elder Mitch Shields and he had a big laugh and said he did. 

Two of our teachers left this week for Christmas and we probably won't be seeing them again. Hermano Dickey and Hermana Christensen. I have some pictures with them, but I'm having troubles getting them on an email. But I'll work on it.

Yo se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador y mi hermano y amigo. Yo tengo un testifimonio de Su Expiacion y arrepentimiento. En mi vida, estupidos decicions dio mi sentimientos de maul o culpa.  Pero, porque la Expiacion y Jesucristo, yo puedo sentir mejor otra ves. En el nobre de Jesucristo, Amen. 

I may have messed some of those words up, but I hope you guys get the general message of it. 

I'll work on the pictures. We will talk on Christmas day at 10:30!

Love

Elder Haley

Our District with Hermana Christensen.

With Hermano Dickey

Elder Hansen, my really good friend. 

  Elders McCown, Smith, Mortensen and I out in the snow

Elder McCown and I wearing our Santa hats!  Thank you!

Our room Christmas decorations!

Zoomed in on BYU stadium

View from a classroom

Mountain view 

The Provo temple on P-Day

Week 3

This week was definitely the best I’ve had yet. We started what are called TRC's this week. TRC's are basically just set up appointments with people who are interested in the church. They come to the MTC and we teach them every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I think we are supposed to believe they are real life investigators, but most people think they are either new converts that still have a few questions about the church or less-active members that are still willing to hear more about what missionaries have to say. So we got set up with a guy named Mauricio. Mauricio is 22, he is studying English at BYU, and came to America from Bolivia. He is a really cool guy and we are already friends. For our first lesson, we were planning to take about 20 minutes of the 45 min lesson to get to know him. Learn his likes, hobbies, about his family, and basically everything he would tell us. It was pretty fun. He told us a little about Bolivia and shared with us some stuff about Argentina. He says empanadas are amazing (I already knew that. I’m in love with them) and about Mate, and the ice cream and how crazy hot and humid it is there. I honestly can’t wait to get down there. So, we taught him the basic first lesson about God being our loving Heavenly Father. We also taught him how to pray and that God answers our prayers. We usually teach them something close to this because its a good way to learn about the investigator's religious history, what their beliefs are, and what needs they have. From what Mauricio told us, he loves the ideas of Eternal Families and how much the church blesses and teaches families. He also told us he comes from a Catholic family. So the first lesson was really good. Well, except for when my companion tried to talk about the first vision without having it memorized. We got stuck there, but ended up telling Mauricio we would research more about it and teach him more on Wednesday. 

Before doing TRC's, my companion and I didn’t know enough Spanish to hold basic conversation. We had to write down our lesson plan, word for word. That kind of stunk for a few reasons. First, lesson planning and studying took FOREVER. Our teachers told us our lesson planning should take no more than 30 minutes. We would have to spend upwards of 1.5 hours to 2 hours on one lesson. And then when we taught, it would just be us reading out of our notebooks so we wouldn’t be using what we’ve learned or feeling the Spirit. We would ask questions, but that was dangerous because we wouldn’t know what they were saying in response. All we could say after they replied was "Si" a lot and nod our heads. But by this week, we had learned enough Spanish to hold basic conversation and ask questions. And when we asked questions, we could understand what they were saying! Its crazy how powerful the Spirit is and how well the Gift of Tongues works. 

Our second lesson with Mauricio was on Wednesday and we taught him about the Godhead, the Apostasy, and the First Vision. It went really well. My Spanish was kind of choppy and slow, but I got my point across with the words I know. The only speed bump we had was when he asked us where we find Prophets. I thought he meant like where does the prophet live, so I told him President Monson lived in Salt Lake. But I guess he was asking how they are called. We didn’t really know how to answer that in Spanish, so we just told him we would share more during our next lesson. 

The third TRC lesson was the best lesson we have had in the MTC. We taught about Prophets and the Book of Mormon. During our last lesson, we left him the Restoration of the Gospel pamphlet and asked him to read it. He did and came with some questions for us. It was really cool because we hadn’t prepared for the lessons he asked about, but we still answered them pretty well. I have some pretty decent Spanish skills now. It is pretty crazy. The Gift of Tongues is real. I know it is. Mauricio accepted our invitation to Read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it to know if it is true. 

On the way back from the temple this morning, we ran into Brad Wilcox. Brad freaking Wilcox. Just passed him by the fountain outside the temple. He shook our hands and told us he was going to be speaking here at the MTC on New Year’s Day. It pretty awesome. I also got a haircut today.

Well that’s about it. All the cool guys in the Zone are leaving this weekend. Bummer

Can’t wait to hear from you guys. 

Love,

Elder Haley

Week Two

So this week was one of the fastest slow days on earth. Sunday we had a bunch of meetings and so I was moving from 5:30 in the morning until I fell asleep around 10:30. Not to mention it was fast Sunday. I had a branch council meeting, then priesthood meeting, then district meeting, then sacrament meeting and fast and testimony meeting. After all of that, the new missionaries went to a training that I can’t remember a lot about at the moment. The schedule says it was a “One by One” meeting. Then we had a mission conference which is basically just a devotional that the entire MTC attends. We didn’t sing Called to Serve first thing in one of our meetings. One of the first songs we sang though was the Army of Helaman song from Primary. Instead of “we will be the Lords missionaries” we sang “we are now the Lords missionaries” It was awesome. The MTC presidency spoke and the first half was really good but then the heat of the meeting and the freaking terribly uncomfortable chairs made me basically die. Then our entire Zone went on a temple walk with the Branch Presidency. We just walk to the temple in the cold and sing songs for a good half hour. Most people hate it but I liked it. Then we had this thing called Match the Message that is basically the MTC presidency calling us out for wearing “inappropriate socks” or having goofy haircuts. After that, we had about an hour or so to sit around and ponder. Our socks are supposed to match the color of our pants. Most people use that time to moan and groan about how hungry they are. Then we had a Sunday devotional that was good. Then we watched this video called Character of Christ. It’s a recording of one of Elder Bednar’s devotionals. It was crazy spiritual and gave a good smack to everyone’s face about not thinking about yourself so much and just going to work. 

Monday was just a day full of studying and teaching. We had one investigator at the beginning of the week who ended up being our teacher. So we taught her a lesson every day except Tuesday. In Spanish. So it’s a good thing it wasn’t a real investigator. People say it should only take about 30 minutes to plan a lesson. But when you have to plan the lesson, translate it all, and then practice speaking it, it takes a lot longer. So our personal studying is to a minimum. My Spanish is progressing, but slowly.

Tuesday night’s devotional was done by a member of the Seventy. He and his wife talked about their conversion story and what we as missionaries should do to help convert people and bring them closer to Christ. 

Basically the most exciting part of my days here is exercise time. We have a bunch of really good volleyball players so it fun. Except they can take it a little too seriously so if you mess up your shamed for the rest of the time your here. So I play quite a bit of basketball. 

Everyone in the Zone is pretty nice and fun. There are a bunch of crazy people that stay up late at night. It’s crazy but also fun. Except for when I’m tired. Then they need to go to bed too. We have had snow but barely any and it melted before lunch. It’s just been pretty cold here most of the time. Its below freezing in the mornings and nights but warm during the afternoon.  We went to the temple again this morning.

Part of my responsibility as a District Leader is to get everyone’s mail.  I check it twice a day…

Love you all!

Elder Haley

These are the guys in my room. Mi companero es el un con the coat zipped up all the way.

At the temple this morning

Elder Brown and I.  He is from our Stake in Cheyenne.  He just arrived at the MTC on Wednesday. 

He is going to Brazil.

My missionary tag.

Life is Good!

Hey!

So far the MTC is pretty great. We’ve already started speaking Spanish—within the first hour actually. It’s been loads of fun and full of spiritual experiences. Although I wasn’t expecting to be speaking yet, I think I’m doing alright. When our teachers are talking I can understand about half of what they are saying. I can already testify of how real and powerful the gift of tongues is. We are supposed to be speaking Spanglish as much as possible. They want us to be saying all the words we know as much as possible. Right now my vocabulary is basically Hola, bien, and caliente with other words that I can’t remember very well.

 My companions name is Elder McCown. He is from Mesa, Arizona. He is about 6’4 or so and played volleyball in high school. We are getting along really well. Our room that we sleep in has 4 other elders in it so a total of 6 of us stay in the same room. We are all going to the same mission and leave the same day. Oh yeah that reminds me, I am only staying in the MTC for 6 weeks, not 8. Everyone is my room is really cool. Elder Mortensen is from Arizona, Elder Thelin is from Arizona, Elder Smith is from Logan, UT, and Elder Rassunsen is from Canada. We are having loads of fun together. The food isn’t the best but it is what it is. Saturday’s are my P-days and we get to go to the temple if we want. Our room went today and did an initiatory session. We had breakfast after, and compared to the cafeteria food in the MTC, breakfast was muy bueno. 

Yesterday we had our first lesson with an “investigator.” I say “investigator” because there is no way they would let brand new missionaries that speak barely any Espanol to teach a real investigator. We’ve also been told that our investigator ends up being our teacher later on. But our lesson went alright. We were about 5 minutes short of our goal to teach for at least 20 minutes, but 15 minutes is actually really good for only two days of learning Spanish. I can’t wait until I can hold a decent conversation. The guys that have been here longer say that by about the 3 week mark, you can hold a pretty decent conversation. But of course you have to put the work in, and I am. Loads of study time everyday. 

On Thursday night we met our branch presidency. We don’t have a second councilor yet, the old one was just called somewhere else, but we should by tomorrow night. President Cuthburt and his wife are pretty funny and really cool. Brother Taggart could be Elder Bednard’s twin. In the meeting we learned about our missionary purpose. During the second half, Sister Cuthburt and Sister Taggart taught about 2 Nephi 31 and the doctrine of Christ. While they did that, President Cuthburt and brother Taggart would take us out one by one and do a sort of get to know you interview. By the end of the meeting, they decided who would be the district leaders. There were two district at the meetings, which means that there were two district leaders. And I’m one of them! It’s been pretty easy so far, just pick up mail and assign prayers during lesson and talks for district meetings. Over all, the MTC is awesome. And before I forget again. I can read emails everyday. I just can’t reply until P-day.  I can reply until 6pm to emails on my P-day too. I can get packages here too, just not when I get to Argentina. 

I can’t wait to hear from, you guys! Hasta luego!

          Elder Haley

Mission Farewell Talk

**This is a transcription of the recording of his talk in church**

Sister Shields was right it's a lot better to speak first than last. I have never had to speak last in all of my talks before now.  I guess I'll have to cope with it. I'd like to warn you, I am allergic to public speaking. My hands get shaky, my voice gets shaky, my knees get shaky, and I have been known to leak from my eyes. All right. So, good morning, brothers and sisters, I've been asked to speak today for a few reasons. Mainly, because I haven't had a speaking assignment for a few months but, like it has been said, I'm also beginning my mission. I will report on Wednesday to the Provo MTC, stay there for eight weeks, get shipped down into Santa Fe, Argentina, and spend my next two years there, and serve the Lord. So with it being my farewell talk, I was given the choice of what to speak on. And I thought of a few subjects and I finally picked, or landed, on the Restoration. And I've spent some time going over the Restoration in my Preach My Gospel booklet, preparing for my mission, so I thought it would be pretty easy, but we'll see how I get through it. 

But before I get into the Restoration I'd like to say a few thank yous. I'm already crying. First, my parents, thank you. Thank you for raising me in this wonderful gospel. Thank you for always being examples of faithful disciples of Christ. Thank you for loving me and being patient through my mistakes, because we know there's been plenty. Second, to my brothers and sister, thank you for teaching me patience. I know I haven't been the best oldest brother but I look back at family memories and they're almost always of laughing and having fun. And thank you for forgiving me for not being a not so nice brother. Lastly, thank you to all my church leaders, teachers and friends. As I think about my church leaders, I have been blessed to have been taught by so many wonderful people. As I look back to my young men's years, I have wonderful leaders in Brother Dutton, Brother Smuin, Brother Hunsaker, Brother McClellan, Brother Campos, and Brother Talbot. There have been plenty others but those are the ones that I could remember. For those that are here I'd just want to say thank you. For those that aren't here, I'd like to pray that they feel my love for them. And that through my years in seminary, that has prepared me for my mission, I'd like to thank Brother Hill, Sister McClellan, Brother Siler, Sister Anderson and Sister Higginson for helping me prepare and teaching me. Again, I pray that those that aren't here will feel my love.

So now on to the Restoration. The Restoration all starts with a knowledge of God. God is our literal Heavenly Father. We are his literal children. He created us in His image and that makes us His literal children. Our Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and bones. But most importantly God loves us. And because God loves us, he wants us to live with Him in heaven for eternity. But God knew that in order to do so, we had to come to Earth and gain a physical body and go through trials and learn because He couldn't force us to live with Him. It was up to us if we wanted to. So before we came to Earth, we lived as spirits in heaven and dwelt in Heavenly Father's presence. Although we don't remember this, God does because of this God knows us personally. He knows our names. He knows our deepest fears. He knows our greatest desires. God gave us this experience on Earth to help us learn and grow. By choosing to obey God and His commandments, we show our love for Him. But sometimes we make mistakes and we slip up and we sin. By sinning, we become unclean and move away from Him. But God has given us a way to become clean again, and to be worthy of entering into His presence. This is known as the Atonement of Jesus Christ and is essential to God's plan for us. We will learn more about Jesus Christ's atonement in a little bit, but first, let's talk about families.

Now, because God loves us and wants us to return with Him, to live with Him, He gave us different tools to help us do so, and one of the most important is family. God has given us families to help us grow and learn. A home established on strong gospel principles will be a place of learning. The home can be a refuge and a place of safety. Families are designed by God to help teach and learn basic principles in a loving atmosphere. As we learn, in the home, the spirit of the Lord may be present. The Spirit will bless the family with peace, joy, and happiness. Although families may teach us many hard principles, families cannot teach us everything. God knows this, and in order to help us even more, He has given us prophets. So when you hear prophets, you probably think of Moses, Abraham, Noah, the prophets of the Bible. God provides His children with prophets in order to tell them what He would have them do. Prophets are a sort of spokesman for the children of God. So if we needed prophets back in the time of the Bible, why not now? And so God has given us prophets today. Our current prophet we know is Thomas S. Monson and another prophet that we've all heard of or at least I hope we have, is Joseph Smith and I'll talk more about him later. God speaks to prophets and tells them what He wants His children to know and do. The prophets then speak to the people and share with them what commandments they should obey. They taught the people about God, who He is and what He would have them do. Most importantly prophets teach us that God loves us and that He wants us to return to live with Him.

 Now, can you think of anyone that was kind of like a prophet, lived in the Bible time, and taught the children of God and performed miracles? Of course I'm talking about Jesus Christ. Through the Bible, we know that Jesus Christ taught through his ministry. He taught the people of Jerusalem and surrounding areas while He lived and performed miracles. But the whole reason that Christ came to Earth was not just to perform miracles, although that was good and it was right for Him to do that. But He came to fulfill the Atonement. We know that Jesus suffered for us and took upon Him the sins and transgressions of all mankind. And by His sacrifice, or actually, through His sufferings and death on the cross, our Savior made an infinite atoning sacrifice. By His sacrifice, we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and eventually live in God's presence. We also know that while the Savior was on Earth, He called 12 men to become his apostles and gave them the proper priesthood authority to do so. This priesthood is the same priesthood held-- or that Jesus held and used to perform miracles. Christ organized his church, and before His death, He gave his apostles authority to teach His gospel, perform ordinances of salvation and establish His church. But after Christ died, a wicked and confused people persecuted and killed the apostles. When the apostles died the priesthood authority that they held was lost and longer on the earth. Without the apostles, priesthood authority, leadership, doctrines were corrupted and changed. When such a thing happens, it is called an apostasy, so the fullness of the Gospel was not on the earth any more. There have been many apostasies throughout time, and we can read about them in the Bible and also in the Book of Mormon. But the apostasy that we're talking about is known as the Great Apostasy because of its link and significance. The Great Apostasy lasted from the time of the apostles' death all the way to the early 1820s. So in the Americas in the 1820s, religion was starting to become a very important topic. People were becoming much more curious about who God was and what they should do to live with God again. This time is now known as a religious awakening. 

During this time, there was a young boy named, Joseph Smith. Joseph and his family lived in New York. The people of that area were very religious, and Joseph and his family were no exception. They went to church every Sunday and often read from the Bible as a family. As they would attend the different church meetings, Joseph became confused. When they went to these different meetings, there were different pastors and teachers, and the different pastors and teachers were saying different things and they had different opinions on the Bible, but they all had the same opinion that only they were true. And so because of this, Joseph became confused about which church was the one true church and which he should go to. And so one night, as Joseph was reading the Bible, he came to James, chapter one in the New Testament, and the verses he read were five and six. I'll read them real quick, it says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. That giveth to all man liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him. Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." So Joseph thought that if anyone lacked wisdom it was him. So he decided to take James' counsel and to ask God in faith. And we know that the only way to do this is through prayer. He found a secluded and isolated area in the nearby forest to kneel down and pray.

 As he prayed, Joseph was visited by two personages. He recounts his experience by saying, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I beheld two personages, whose brightness and glory defied all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, 'This is my beloved Son. Hear Him.'"

We know these two personages to be God and His Son, Jesus Christ. They visited Joseph Smith personally to answer his prayer. During this appearance to Joseph, Christ set Joseph apart as a prophet and would later give him directions through heavenly messengers or angels as to how to restore His church, Jesus Christ's church on the earth again. And these directions included receiving proper priesthood authority to perform ordinances. With this recent authority, Joseph was directed to restore the church of Jesus Christ again on the earth. We are now living in what Bible prophets call the Last Days, the Latter Days or the dispensation of the fullness of times. This is why the church that we belong to is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Another of the directions given to Joseph was to bring another volume of holy scripture to God's children. We know this record to be the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Joseph came to this record through an angel named Moroni. When Moroni was alive, he took the ancient golden plates that held the history of the early American people, and buried them in a hill. And he did this through direction from God. When Joseph came into possession of these plates, he translated them by the power of God. This volume of scripture is a record of the revelations and history of the people of the ancient Americas. After His resurrection, Christ visited the ancient American people and this experience is also in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the word of God and I can testify of its truth. But how do I know that it is true? And how can I testify of it? Because I have read it for myself, and I have felt the spirit of God as I read and have followed its counsel. At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni, the same Moroni that directed Joseph Smith to the golden plates gives a promise to those that are reading the Book of Mormon. He states, "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." This is a promise to those that read, that if they desire to know the truth of the Book of Mormon that they only ask through prayer knowing and having faith that they will receive an answer. Sister Shields talked about listening to the spirit. God will make it known unto you that it is true through the spirit. I have done this myself and I have received an answer. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I would like to bare my testimony. I'm very grateful for this wonderful gospel and for the many blessings I have received from it. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon. And I can testify of its truth and I'm grateful for prophets of times of old and in these days. And I'd like to leave you with this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.