A Witness of Truth

The Pure Love of Christ

I have been thinking much this week about the wonderful spirit of peace, joy, and love we feel here in Guatemala. There is a spirit in this Work that is hard to describe. It hearkens me back to my days as a young missionary in Colombia. There too I felt this same special spirit and experienced the same spiritual growth that we feel here in Guatemala. We feel this special spirit in our work in the Area Office and Dental Clinic, and we especially feel it in our work in the Guatemala City Temple. Last night at the temple, I officiated in a session of the endowment where an elderly couple came to receive their endowment and then be sealed as eternal companions. The spirit in the session was marvelous and moving.

As I have contemplated this topic this past week or so, I have come to realize that the feeling we are experiencing here is the pure love of Christ. It is our love for Christ and for the Father that brings us here to serve as missionaries, but what I mean is that God loves his missionaries and He shares that love with them in a very special way. That love fills our hearts with great peace and joy, with gratitude, and a desire to do always that which pleases our Father. There are many things which we could be doing with our lives right now, but I can´t think of anything that we could be doing that could possibly bring us such love, peace, and joy as serving here.

I hope and pray that each of my grandchildren will gain a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon, the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration, the Church, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that each of them will have the experience of tasting his pure love as a missionary. There is nothing sweeter than the love of God.

How I Came to Know The Book of Mormon is the Word of God

I grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had good parents who, although subject to weakness as we all are, strived to teach us the truth. As an adolescent I had a thousand unanswered questions about life, our purpose on this earth, and about the faith of my parents. I was painfully aware that I did not know the truth for myself. When I was 17 I left home in Las Vegas, Nevada, and enrolled for the summer semester at Brigham Young University (BYU). It was 1969. I lived in the college dorms (Deseret Towers) that are no longer there. That summer I took a Book of Mormon class as part of my curriculum. I had never read The Book of Mormon for myself, I am ashamed to admit. I had started it many times, but never followed through. But that summer at BYU away from home, I decided that I needed to know for myself if the things I had been taught by my parents and church leaders was true. I needed to know what I was going to do with my life. There is a remarkable promise in the last book in The Book of Mormon. It says:

"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. (Moroni 10:4)

For the first time in my life, I decided to put that promise to the test. I settled down in my dorm room and began to read The Book of Mormon and pray. Unlike in the past, I found myself captivated by The Book of Mormon, it was delicious to me. I read and I read. I did not stop for meals or for classes. I read the book from beginning to end. When I finished, I knelt in my dorm room in Deseret Towers and asked God, Our Heavenly Father, if the book is true. In response I was overcome by the most moving and powerful influence I had ever felt. I felt filled with light, love, peace, and joy. My heart burned within me. The feeling of love I felt was something I had never before experienced, and I cannot fairly describe it in words alone. This powerful feeling lingered with me for some time and when it subsided, its influence continued with me still. The remarkable thing to me is that when this feeling subsided, I knew in a way I cannot explain and with a certainty beyond anything mortal or intellectual that The Book of Mormon is in fact the Word of God, that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration who translated the book as he said by the gift and power of God, that Jesus Christ of whom the book testifies is in fact the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God´s true and living church on the earth, By the same means, my thousand doubts and questions had been swept away in a brilliant burst of light. In some way I knew with the same certainty the answers to my questions, or they seemed foolish indeed. I had found out for myself that The Book of Mormon is true, and it changed me and my life forever.

Follow the Prophets and Apostles

This week I had a disturbing esperience. A fine young man, a Latino, in Barrio Lucero in Salt Lake City, who was at the time we were there, the Elders Quorum President, has become disaffected with the Church. He was having difficulty reconciling the long delay in providing Blacks the priesthood and the current Church doctrine and policy toward Gays and Lesbians with His view of a loving God. He thought it unthinkable that God would give a detailed revelation to Joseph Smith with respect to the Nauvoo House, which he saw as in Joseph´s personal interest, and yet be silent on such important topics as these.

As I communicated with this young man, it became apparent that he had become critical of the
Lord´s annointed prophets, finding fault with them, and even speaking evil of them. This is the first and almost universal step on the road to apostasy. It has caused me grief to contemplate the choices this young man is making. I pray for him, that he may humble himself before the Lord and find his way back into the light.

I have been praying this week for my children and grandchildren, pleading that they will not be overcome in this day of tribulation with the sophistries of the adversary and his cunning, but false doctrines. Whenever we cut ourselves off from the Lords annointed servants who hold the keys of the Holy Priesthood, we cut ourselves off from God. If we will follow the prophet and receive his words as if from the Lord´s own mouth, and if we will humble ourselves before God and not trust in our own wisdom or in the arm of flesh, He will teach us His ways, and we will not be overcome by the false doctrines of our day.

"And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people. For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world . . . . What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." D&C 1:14-16, 38.

The Work of the Lord is a Marvelous Work and a Wonder
Last night we attended a baby shower for a beautiful young woman of our ward here who is soon to have her first child, a girl. There must have been 100 people at the shower and piles of gifts. There were games, food, and celebration for this faithful couple.

Later we attended a baptismal service in the ward where four new converts, a family, entered the waters of baptism and made eternal covenants with God.

This morning the fine young Elder who taught these new converts gave his final testimony and farewell to the ward as he prepares to depart for his home in Peru on Tuesday morning, but not before having three more baptisms on Monday evening, another family.

As I contemplate the events of this weekend and reflect on the wonderful young saints in our own family, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for being part of the miracle that is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This work truly is a marvelous work and a wonder!

Hermana Smith's Moving Testimony

I'm not sure Mary Ann will write about her experience yesterday sharing her testimony in Spanish for the very first time, so I will tell you about it from my perspective. It has been very difficult for her not being able to communicate with the members of our ward or share her testimony. She has worked with her Spanish tutor from the Provo MTC for a couple of months now, writing her testimony down in English and having him translate it for her into Spanish. Then she practiced for many hours reading it in Spanish so that she would be able to share it with the members of the ward. She has worked so hard and been so diligent in preparing to do that. Then yesterday, a surprise to me, she went to the pulpit and shared her testimony. It was difficult for her and she was terrified, but she did so well! The members of the ward were deeply touched by her testimony and almost all of them came up to her or me to express how wonderful her testimony was. They felt her sure witness of the truth and her great love for them. I was so proud of her and her great efforts to let them know what she knows in her heart. You inspire me, Hermana Smith!

The Burden of Sin

It was an incredibly busy week that sped by in a blur. I had so many balls in the air at a time this week that I felt like a juggler in a circus act. I feel so blessed to be in the service of our God. One thing I had to deal with this week caused me great sorrow for the sins of the world. Even God weeps because of this kind of sorrow. I dealt with the case of a young missionary sent home from his mission for sins he committed before his mission and kept secret from his priesthood leaders. He had sexually abused some of his young female cousins before he entered the mission field, but he did not confess these sins to his bishop or stake president. He learned the hard way that you can't hide your sins from the Lord and if you try to hide your sins from his servants, you can´t have the Spirit and you can´t do His work.

To my grandchildren, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. You are a chosen generation reserved for this most wonderful and difficult period in the earth´s appointed time. You have been sent into the world foreordained to perform a great mission on this earth. That mission is the preparation of your brothers and sisters for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and His millennial reign. It is a work of salvation. It is the most important work on the planet. It is God´s work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His sons and daughters.

Now I want to give you a warning. You cannot do this work in the bonds of sin. Satan wants to prevent you from fulfilling your foreordained mission. He will seek to do that by enticing you to commit sin, because he knows that when you do, you will be under his power, and you will not be able to fulfill your appointed mission. We cannot do the work of God under the burden of sin. And the sad thing is that none of us will succeed in avoiding all of Satan´s enticements. We all fall into sin no matter how hard we try not to, no matter how much we want to do good.

But there is good news, the greatest news of all time. Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth and paid the price of all our sins. He suffered and died for us that we need not suffer if we will exercise faith in Him, repent of our sins, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. He will then take all our sins upon himself and put His righteousness upon us. We will then and only then be able to do the Father´s work and fulfill our destiny.

So what is my warning? NEVER hide your sins! When you make mistakes, and you all will make mistakes, admit your mistakes and seek forgiveness from your Heavenly Father through the atonement of Christ. For some sins, especially sexual sins, we must confess our sins to our bishop and receive his help in our repentance. When the day comes that you are interviewed to serve a mission, DON´T HIDE YOUR SINS. You will never be able to do the work required of you in the mission field if there are skeletons in your closet--unrepentant sins in your past. Make a full and unvarnished confession of your sins and let the atonement of Christ make you clean and spotless before God. Then you will have power over the adversary and power to do God´s work, because of Christ.

I know each of you has an important mission to perform on this earth. Through the atonement of Christ you will be able to perform that mission if you will humble yourself, confess your sins, and repent. I pray that none of you will find yourselves in the place of this young missionary who tried to hide his sins and was sent home in dishonor.

Make the Sabbath a Delight

It has been another wonderful week in Guatemala. I can't describe the joy we feel from being involved in the work of the Lord. Friday evening we went to the temple with our assigned ward, Barrio Santa Luisa. I worked with the few brethren who came to do baptisms for the dead with the youth of the ward while Sister Smith did a session with some of the women of the ward. There was a great spirit in the baptistery as there always is; and I enjoyed doing the ordinances in Spanish for the first time in more than 40 years.

While we were waiting outside the temple for the bishop to arrive with the youth recommend, Brother Bernabe Suret and I had some time to visit. He is the first counselor in the ward, and a humble, hard-working man. He builds houses for a living, and he builds them from the ground up-- he is skilled in concrete, plumbing, electrical, roofing, painting, and every other construction trade. I was saddened to hear what has happened to the construction business in this country over the past decade. In earlier times a builder could make Q2,000 per week plus bonuses doing construction work. But since about 2004, the business has collapsed and now these skilled workers make barely Q600 per week with no bonuses. It is very difficult for them to survive on such meager wages. I pray that these oppressive conditions will change so that these good men can earn a decent living for their families.

Today we attended Stake Conference for the Molino Stake. Elder José Maravilla, an Area Seventy from Nicaragua, was the visiting authority, and he gave a very inspiring account of his conversion to the gospel. He grew up in very small town in Nicaragua, and ran a small business doing oil changes on cars. When he first was exposed to the Church, he attended his first sacrament meeting in a small, "horrible" rented house with very few members. He told of being curious and anxious to see what was covered by a white cloth at the front of the room. When the American missionary pulled back the cloth, he saw both the emblems of the Savior's sacrifice, and he was so anxious to partake of them. He explained that as a child in his former church he had repeatedly asked why he could not partake of both emblems of the sacrament. When the elder blessed and distributed the sacrament, he offered the emblems to everyone except Mr. Maravilla. He told how crushed he was when he could not partake. Later the elder explained to him that he must first be baptized to make these sacred covenants. He told of the inexpressible joy he felt after his baptism when he and his wife and their child partook of the emblems of the sacrament for the first time. He said he has never missed an opportunity to partake of the sacrament since that time. May we all love the sacrament as this humble servant does and partake of it gratefully with a broken heart and contrite spirit at every opportunity.

Elder Maravilla next told us of his trial as a new member when he was taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Sunday was his busiest business day, when he made more money than all the other days of the week combined. He was in competition with a bigger, more established business across the street, and when the elders told him he needed to close his business on Sunday, he was sure that if he did so his business would fail and he would not be able to provide for his family. He took the matter to the Lord, and in faith, he closed on Sunday. His competitor ridiculed him about his decision and sought to take away his customers, but Elder Maravilla's business did not fail. The Lord prospered him. He made an offer to buy the larger building on the corner that belonged to his competitor, but the man said he had no need to sell to him. Elder Maravilla said he prayed to the Lord that he would give the man a need! For two years he saved, and one day, the man came to him and said he had a need and wanted to sell the building to Elder Maravilla. He bought the building, improved his business, and this main corner in his small town became known as Maravilla corner. It became the junction of two main roads between neighboring communities, and everyone referred to the junction as Maravilla corner. Elder Maravilla testified that he was blessed and prospered, because he kept the Sabbath day holy and kept his covenants, partaking worthily of the sacrament each and every Sunday.