The Seed Was Planted...

By Hal Edwards

     My first contact with the Restoration Church came when I was in the eighth grade.

     We had attended a Christian church when I was younger and I had been baptized there when I was about ten years old.  Then, when I was in junior high school, we started attending the Methodist denomination, since they had a minister we really liked and a great youth program.

     About that time, the Kansas City Public School system was having all kinds of difficulty, so my parents pulled me out.  They had somehow heard of a private school in Independence that was accepting students.  The school was made up of mostly RLDS families, but they were willing to take nonmembers.  They did not pressure anyone to join the church and allowed nonmembers to use the King James Version of the Bible.

     I made a lot of friends there, and most were RLDS families.  We regularly attended chapel and religion classes.  I even read the Book of Mormon and didn’t find anything disagreeable with it.

     I graduated from this school and really loved the people I had met.  I felt drawn to the Church, but for some reason never followed up on it.  But a seed had been planted…

     I kept in contact with several of my friends, but was really unaware of the rift growing within the church, except for some news items.  The Methodist congregation I had been attending was changing.  The ministers had changed and the youth program died out.  It was pretty much an older group with my parents being some of the “young people”.

     One evening, I was talking to one of my school friends about church.  She was going through some family issues and had started attending a Restoration Branch.  She invited me to visit the Branch and I did.  I really enjoyed going to church there and started attending regularly.  I remember wondering and being happy at the sounds of babies and young children in the services, something I didn’t realize had been missing from my worship experiences. 

     I began to see a picture in my mind of a great feast going on, and I was outside looking in the window.  Oh, how I wanted to be inside joining in the joy and feasting! 

     I bought some church books and started out to read the Book of Mormon again with an eye to find something wrong with it. 

I decided if anything stood out to me as particularly good, I would highlight it.  By the time I was halfway through, I was highlighting everything. 

     Finally, I got up the nerve to ask for baptism.  That seed was finally showing some growth.

     The pastor and I talked and he agreed to baptize me.  My family was supportive, as they had many friends in the Restoration, and were glad for my happiness.  On the day of my baptism, I was nervous but happy.  I remember going under the water, and as I came up out of the water, breaking the surface, for a few seconds I heard singing. 

     Later, after the service, I was talking to my friend and I mentioned that the hymn the congregation was singing as I was baptized was beautiful.  She looked at me with a puzzled look and we realized that the congregation hadn’t been singing a hymn during the actual baptism.  I am convinced that I heard the angels singing and rejoicing that I had made my covenant with my Lord.

     My friend and I grew closer as we attended church and we were finally united in marriage in that same Restoration branch.  Today we have a wonderful son and daughter and two grandsons.  Even though we attend a different Restoration branch now, we still love the Gospel.  Our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us more than we can imagine or deserve.

“Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price… Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.”

~ II Nephi 6:99, 101-102

Living the Book of Mormon

By Marvin Godfrey

      I, like many members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was brought up in the Church.  I was baptized when I was ten or eleven years of age, but I was not interested in Church, even though I was raised in a Christian home.  After graduating from high school and spending two years in the Army, I went the way of the world. 

      In 1975, my wife became interested in my Church and she finally got me interested again.  That is when my soul caught fire for the Lord.  I began to pray and study a great deal.  Reading the Book of Mormon became most important to me.  I could not get enough of it, and I could hardly wait to return home each night to read more. 

      The whole book came alive for me.  As I read, I lived everything, seeming to be there as it took place.

      I saw Nephi, sword-in-hand, as he pled with the angel, not wanting to kill Laban.  I was there when the people arrived in the Promised Land and thanked God for their safe arrival.  I saw how they fortified their cities and prepared for battle.  When the Anti-Nephi-Lehi people buried their swords and vowed never to take them up again, I helped them bury the weapons.  I was allowed to see Jesus descend from heaven to minister to those who were left after the terrible darkness and destruction.  The peace and love that followed was so good – but then Satan came again.  The total destruction of the Nephite people was an awful sight to see.

     I know that the Book of Mormon is true, every word, for I was there!

A Heritage In the Church

By Luana M. Bessmer

     This testimony is about being grateful for the blessing of my heritage in the true Church.  My mother was a third generation on both sides of her family.  Her great-grandfather on her father’s side designed and built the church in Mansfield, Missouri.  His wife had a dream that they should donate a portion of their farm and that he should design and build the church.  She woke him and told him the dream and he sat on the floor of their bedroom and made the blueprint according to her description.  That church still stands today, but due to the split of our Church, it was sold and is now a private home.  Grandfather Poort built many more churches in that area of Missouri.  My mother’s great-grandfather on her mother’s side, Matthew L. Norman, rode his mule to hold cottage meetings in Benton County, Illinois, and then in later life in Knob Knoster, Missouri.  His son Robert E. Norman was a priest also in the Church and was fluent in the three Books.  Many hours my siblings and I sat and listened to him share the Word.  He was a stone mason and carpenter, and many buildings in surrounding towns were built by him.  He was the reason my father became a Church member.  My father met my great-grandpa before he met my mother.  Living in Knob Knoster, my father heard of Robert E. Norman being the best stone mason and carpenter around the area and a natural teacher. 

     My father was a Baptist and the oldest of three boys.  He quit school at the age of nine because his father had deserted the family and he was forced to find odd jobs to help fund the family.  He was cautioned by his mother not to listen to the teachings of that “Mormon” on religion, but to only learn the crafts.  Grandmother did not know that was impossible.  Grandfather taught my father everything he knew, and Dad listened and learned.  Grandfather was the reason my dad was baptized into the Church in a farm pond.  Grandfather shaped my dad’s life in so many ways.  He picked my dad to marry my mom.  He introduced them and influenced them in learning God’s Word and to fall in love.  He saw my father’s worth and he was absolutely correct.  Great Grandpa had dreams and often spoke of what would come in the future for our Church and our nation.  His death when I was eleven was a hard blow to us. 

     These are just some of the ancestors I am so grateful for.  My mother kept every letter she received over the years, and the letters of her grandparents, and there is a rich history in writing of so many facts. Some of the stories I heard as a child have been confirmed.  My baptism and confirmation at the age of eight years old was because of what I was taught.  I felt the Holy Spirit wash over me.  I was welcomed into the true Church and have no doubt. 

     As I watch the youth of our congregation grow up physically and spiritually I am so encouraged for what will come in their future.  They have the fullness of the Gospel.  They have a true foundation.  Zion will come and they will be ready.  

A Desire for Zion

By Jennifer Raffety

     I was born into a family that did not have a specific denomination yet decided.  When I was several years old, my parents and my siblings and I joined a local Lutheran church.  As a pre-teen, I began searching earnestly for truth about churches and religions and the scriptures; I was not satisfied with what my family’s denomination offered.  During my high school years, I had many religious-themed discussions with my friends, classmates, boyfriends, and teachers as I continued to search for truth.
     When I was in school in the 1970’s, many of my classmates were RLDS, and during a time of specific searching about their religion, I was in the marching band.  One evening, on the way to a football game at William Chrisman High School, I was sitting at the corner of Walnut and Noland, in the turn lane waiting to turn north onto Noland.  While waiting for the light to change, I saw the sky part and Jesus’ face appeared.  He was looking over the city and smiling.
     This experience made me wonder because I did not think much of the city, but as I learned more about the Gospel  and the hope of Zion, this experience continued to encourage me that there was more to life that I realized.  My hope and desire for Zion has continued to grow since that time and I still earnestly look forward to its appearance here in the Center Place.

"Up There"

By Elizabeth Woodward

     One Christmas, I was at church holding my two-year-old nephew before the evening Christmas service started.

     The person playing hymns and songs before the service started to play the song, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

     Ever since my nephew was a baby, that song had always been something special to him.  When he would cry, we would play it for him and he would stop and listen.

     At this service he was just playing with some toys.  He hadn’t heard that song for at least a year.  Then as they started playing it, he stopped what he was doing and listened.  Then he said,

     “That song, I like it.  This Church, I like it.”  Then pausing, seeming to try to find the words he wanted to use to explain what he felt, he said, pointing up, “Up there.”

      It was so amazing to me, for truly this Church is “up there”, meaning in heaven.  Emmanuel will come again.

Converted to Christ Through the Book of Mormon

By Mike Sanders

     My family came to Missouri in 1970 from Douglas, Arizona.  My father was a nonmember who grew up in a very wicked home.  My mother was a member in name who also had a very disturbing childhood.  Both were abused by their parents in very ungodly ways.  My father turned to alcohol to forget the experiences of his youth, and at the age of twenty married my mother, who was at the age of fifteen.  Her marriage to him was one of desperation in fleeing a terrible situation at home.  I was born when she was sixteen years old and am the oldest of four boys.  My mother’s side of the family had affiliation with the Reorganized Church generations before. All we knew growing up was that her grandparents were RLDS.

     The Lord in His infinite wisdom, I believe, gathered our family to Missouri to restore that heritage.  Undoubtedly, it was the prayers of our fathers on behalf of their seed that led to this restoration. 

     Anyway, our family came to Missouri in search for work.  We stayed with some relatives while my father sought employment.  He was a sheet metal worker and after a few odd jobs was finally hired by Allis-Chalmers, located in Independence, Missouri.  We then moved to a home north of Grain Valley.  The Lord had placed our family in the heart of a community of Saints.  My father soon met a man at Allis-Chalmers who lived approximately one and a half miles from our home.  His name was Glen Lambkin and he was an Elder in the RLDS Church.  Our families began what has become a lifelong friendship.

     My father was an abusive alcoholic who was very antagonistic towards the Church.  He had somewhat of a Catholic background, but told us our whole lives that the “Mormons” and the “Book of Mormon” was of the devil.  Needless to say, we were not raised in a very godly environment.  The home that we lived in was the source of much ridicule during my youth.  It was an old, run-down shack that had two bedrooms.  The roof leaked in all the rooms except for two, and during the winter we all slept in the living room huddled around two kerosene heaters.  Our home had no indoor plumbing and we hauled water in gallon jugs from the Lambkins’ home.  We never knew the comforts that so many we came into contact with seemed to take for granted.  As a result, we grew up under a cloud of shame and persecution. 

     We had a constant war in our home concerning the Church.  Many of those good Saints around us extended themselves to our family in sacrificial ways.  My mother always tried to get us out of the home because of the abuse.  Whenever an opportunity arose for us to go and work for the Saints, she jumped at the opportunity.  We, as a consequence, labored on the farms of many of the Saints.  They in turn would buy us clothes, shoes, pay for Boy Scout camps, etc.  They were very careful not to send us home with cash as it would be spent to medicate my father.  My mother experienced much grief of soul for allowing us to go and fellowship with the Saints.  I remember all too well the wicked spirits that had possession of my father during times of drunkenness which would mock and ridicule the Book of Mormon and the Church.  Yet we saw the example of the Saints.  Growing up this was the constant controversy in our home.  While I attended church, it was more of an escape than out of a desire for a relationship with Christ. 

     I, however, “followed in the tradition” of my father.  I began experimenting with drugs at the age of twelve or thirteen and was allowed to smoke as long as I supplied my own cigarettes.  My heart was very hardened and my soul was full of anger at the world. I used to get into many fights at school, and actually had to sit the last three months of my fifth grade year in the principal’s office for trying to attack a fellow student with a baseball bat.  Struggles at home with my father caused me to leave home at the age of fifteen to live with a man named John Carson.  He had a farm in Oak Grove that I worked on.  He had just recently left Drumm Farm and had several boys from that institution who also went to stay on his farm to work.  My mother saw this as a way to help me to change my life.  The seeds, however, had already been sown.  I continued in rebellion against my God and all His authorities.  My use of alcohol and drugs continued to escalate.

     My involvement with the occult also began to increase with role-playing games, Ouija boards, the satanic bible, etc.  I became very heavily involved with heavy metal music and they became my idols.  They were living the life I wanted to live.  I wanted to be my own God and sought for many fleshly pleasures which nearly destroyed my soul.  Eventually, John asked me to leave his home and I moved in with some like-minded fellows.  By the time I was seventeen I was doing every drug imaginable.  I would always rationalize and justify myself.  I would excuse my sin.  By nineteen I was living out of my car dealing drugs.  I was very addicted to methamphetamines and was doing them intravenously.  My life was being destroyed.  I was stealing to feed myself and support my habits.  Satan was exercising great power over me because of my rebellions.  I had many warrants out for my arrest, I weighed about ninety-eight pounds because of the drug use, and I was lying in bed one night and said to myself, “Mike, you can’t go on like this.”

     The next day I went down to the Army recruiter’s station.  He must have said to himself, “Look what the cat dragged in.”  There I was, ninety-eight pounds, hair down to my waist, tattoos, and wearing tiger-striped spandex pants, asking to join the military.  I thought that this would get me out of my legal troubles.  This, however, was not the case.  He didn’t really give me much of a chance to pass to score high enough on the ASVAB testing or to pass a drug screen.  I scored very high on the entrance examination and after a month of cleansing my system, I passed my physical.  I thought if I could just escape from the environment, all my drug friends, etc., that I would be better off.  If I could just go to a far-away place, surely all my troubles would end. 

     I got stationed in Hawaii. That ought to be far enough away, a new start…only one thing was the problem…Mike was going with me.  I was the problem.  My drug usage stopped for the first two years of my stay in the military, but I turned to what I call “suicide drinking.”  I had many altercations in the military, and the MPs knew me by name.  I had many drinking-related incidents which finally came to a head.  One day, during a drunken rampage, I assaulted a Lieutenant Colonel on base.  I woke up in the hospital in very dire straits.  The only thing that saved me was that my entire chain of command went to bat for me during my summary court martial proceedings and said, “This is the best soldier we have; he just has a drinking problem.”  With that, the sentence was suspended and I was sent to alcohol and drug rehab at Tripler Army Medical Center.  I was there for about two and a half months.  It was while I was there, in a protected environment, that for the first time I learned some things about myself.  Much of the shame of my youth was confessed and I was going to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.  This was a step.  The Lord was allowing me to grow grace by grace.

      Unfortunately, I didn’t hearken to their counsel.  I wanted to hang out with my old friends and not make the necessary changes in my life.  And after a time, this dog returned to his vomit.  After I turned back to my old ways, I became more hardened in my sin.  There eventually was another incident and I was discharged from the military.  I came back home and continued in the ways of rebellion against God.  I spent my time at bars, rock concerts, etc.

     This above is an abridged version of my background and it is shared not to glory in my sin, God forbid, but to give you some idea of the hole that Christ pulled me out of.  I hope nothing shared thus far has offended.  I have had your sensibilities in mind and would not want to in any way glory in my wickedness.  Now for the good part. 

     About this time, I found myself in a mighty wrestle before the Lord.  And now I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God before I received a remission of my sins.  Deep down, the Spirit was pricking me to make changes.  My flesh was weak.  A series of events and discussions with some people in the Church led me to start researching the New Age movement.  I began to study the New Age agenda and began to be concerned in my heart.  I was trying to stop drinking and smoking and there were many doubts in my mind concerning the research that I was engaged in.  Like Alma, I had “to know these things for myself” and I asked my younger brother, “What is fasting?”  He said that it is when you give up food or something that you covet and seek the Lord.  This was on a Thursday evening in 1992.  I purposed in my heart to fast from food and television that entire weekend and seek God to find out if what I was reading was true.  This was done in secret, and as you will see, the Lord rewarded me openly.  I also put down the cigarettes.  Let me state that I was an avid sports fan and this just happened to be the weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament.  This many not seem like much of a sacrifice, but I had never fasted from food before and I worshipped sports and the television set.  The cigarettes had me truly in bondage. 

     The book that I was currently reading was Mystery Mark of the New Age by Texxe Mars.  I began my fast the next day, Friday.  I fasted all that day and when I went home that night I began to study earnestly.  I had a King James Version of the Bible that I was looking up references in.  My father passed out, my mother went off to bed, and my brother went to work.  I was all alone in the bedroom.  Alyce Lambkin had been one of the Saints that I had consulted and she gave me an Old Missionary copy of the Book of Mormon to read.  I hadn’t read it and was leery of it considering the brainwashing of my youth by my father.  I had been studying for a couple of hours and all of the sudden I heard my dog start barking outside.  The next thing that happened I can only attempt to convey with words, which are most inadequate.  I sensed the presence of an evil spirit come into the room.  I had given my life over to wicked spirits all my days, but for the first time I sensed a presence outside of myself.  The next thing that happened was that the evil spirit came upon me, and I had a total revelation of Satan’s intense hatred for me and his desire to see me miserable like he is miserable.  I have never known fear like I did when that spirit seized upon me.  I rolled off of the bed and hit the floor praying.  I don’t know how long I prayed, but I poured my soul out to God for the first time in my entire life.  I begged and pleaded with Him for deliverance from this spirit which was upon me.  I was so fearful that I dared not even open my eyes, but continued in prayer and supplication before God for my soul’s salvation. 

     Soon the spirit began to lift, and when I finally gained the courage to open my eyes – I was afraid of what I might see – the Spirit of God descended upon me and filled my entire being.  And immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.  My chest felt like it was sticking out three feet in front of me, and my bosom was full.  And I had the revelation of Jesus Christ, a total revelation of His love for me and desire to see me reclaimed in the Kingdom of God.  The Spirit was upon me in mighty power, even unto the consuming of my flesh.  For the first time in my life, I knew that God was and is.  And there was no Mike there.  I was caught up into His presence and I could exclaim even as Moses did when he was caught up into an exceeding high mountain into the presence of God what he declared in Section 22, “And for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I had never supposed.”  And I knew that Mike was nothing, which thing I had never supposed.  For I had walked all of my days in the pride of my heart.  I was lifted up and in this moment I was abased and brought low.  I was weeping in the Joy of the Lord and His Spirit was upon me.  Now I’ve stuck every drug into my body in every way possible, and nothing could compare to being in the presence of God.  The Spirit was leading me to the Scriptures, and my first inclination was to grab that King James Version of the Bible. With His Spirit on me, I began to frantically search through it and was asking the Lord, “What do You want to show me?” 

     His Spirit was more than I could bear.  I looked over, and on the top of my bed was that Book of Mormon that Alyce had given me to read.  I reached out and grabbed that book and looked in the beginning.  It had a suggested reading style, with topics and page numbers and verses to read.  As I scanned down the page, I saw the phrase, “How to attain faith”, and it told me what page to turn to and what verse to begin reading at.  I now know that it was Mormon’s epistle to his son Moroni as found in the seventh chapter of Moroni, starting in verse 20.  I quickly, under the influence of the Spirit, turned to that page.  I scanned down the page, and when I got to verse 20 the Spirit magnified a hundredfold and the Lord began to speak to me in an audible voice, “And now I come to that faith of which I said I would speak, And I will tell you the way whereby you may lay hold of every good thing….” And the Lord spoke to me verses 20 through 53.  Of course, this ended with Mormon’s great discourse on charity.  And as soon as he spoke the last words of verse 53, the Spirit fled.  I cried out “NO!” because I didn’t want to be out of His presence.  I wondered if I had done something.  I quickly highlighted what He spoke to me.  My heart was pounding in my chest, and I had to tell someone.  It was about two in the morning, so I just laid there and contemplated what had transpired.

     Now I believe that the Lord allowed the spirit of the adversary to come upon me so that I might know what it is like to be left without His Spirit.  I was totally given over to that spirit, and all I could do was cry out for deliverance.  If you had been in the room, I don’t know if you would have heard His voice, but I did and it did shake me to the very center.  You might have well been like Paul’s friends on the road to Damascus who saw the light, but didn’t hear the voice (Acts 9).  He expounded unto me Gospel from the beginning, from His own mouth He declared it unto me.  This is the revelation of Jesus Christ.  “And I certify unto you, brethren, that the gospel…for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12).  Arthur Oakman used to say that “One word spoken into your soul from the lips of Jesus Christ has the power to create His Image in you.”

     I finally drifted off to sleep about two hours later.  As soon as my brother got home, I shared my experience of the night before.  All was not done yet, for I continued on my course on Saturday, fasting and studying to know the truth.  Saturday night rolled around and I found myself alone again.  I was reading the same book, Mystery and the New Age, and all of a sudden I felt that same evil presence come into the room.  I was again fearful, for I remembered what had happened the night before when it seized upon me.  I immediately began to pray unto the Lord for protection.  I prayed that He might send His angels to guard about me that I might know of Satan’s wicked designs in these the last days.  I was given an assurance by the Spirit, that what God wanted to transpire would not be interrupted by Satan.  As soon as that assurance came, Satan spoke to my mind in an audible voice and said, “Well at least I’ve got your father!”  I cried out in my soul, “Noooo!”  As soon as I cried out, the Spirit of God descended upon me in great power like it had the night before, and I was again caught up into His presence and He was leading me again to the Scriptures.  This time, my first response was to grab that Book of Mormon, and I went to the second set of references.  It directed me to turn to this page and begin reading on such and such a verse.  I now know it to be Alma 16:138, and as soon as I got to verse 138, the Spirit magnified again a hundredfold, and the Lord began to speak unto me again in an audible voice, “Or rather, in other words (Mike, if you don’t believe what I said last night, let me state it this way), Blessed is he that believeth on the word of God and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, Yea without being brought to know the word or even compelled before they will believe…” The Lord spoke to me the entire Parable of the Seed as found in Alma 16:138-173.  In particular, when He spoke to me in verse 154 about swelling motions of the Spirit in your breast, the Spirit began to swell back and forth in my bosom.  As soon as He finished speaking verse 173, the Spirit fled again just as before. 

     Praise be to God that by the power of His Spirit He has wrought a mighty change in me and in my heart that I have no disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.  Yea, I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, but not I, but Christ liveth in me.  From that time forth, He took all the desires for drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.  He took a man of unclean lips and has made him to shout praises to the Holy One of Israel.  Oh, the power of His deliverance!  I was the vilest of sinners, yet in His great mercy He reached down and delivered me from the darkest abyss and now I have beheld the marvelous light of God.  To Him be all praise, honor, and glory.  It is the mighty work which He hath done.  For I had to be compelled to be humble and my sins have left their mark upon me today.  For the next few weeks, I feasted on the Book of Mormon and the Lord was with me in power, revealing things to me about that record that a babe like me has only recently come to realize.  His Spirit was upon me for about three months after this experience.  I would not even get into a car with the radio on, it was so offensive to the Spirit, and I could not endure the presence of a television with all its folly and worldly wisdom.  Only in His Word did I find joy and peace.

     I share this not to lift myself above any, for among sinners I have been chief.  I only share this to lift up the name of Jesus Christ.  I believe in a God of miracles who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  My faith was truly as the grain of mustard seed, yet He was mighty to save.  The Lord gathered our family here to receive that which had been lost.  We found out years later that our family has a deep heritage in the Church on my mother’s side.  My great-great-grandfather was E.E. Long, who, from what I understand, spent most of his life on the Indian reservation as a missionary.  The Longs and the Luffs intermarried and I came to know of this heritage through Lucy Graybill, formerly Lucy Luff.  The Lord is truly an awesome God.

     This is a brief testimony that covers all the major events of my conversion to Christ.  With my upbringing, the Lord had to give me a testimony of the Book of Mormon, or I would have never believed.  When God tells you something, you really don’t care what men say. My testimony is that Christ lives, for I have heard His voice.  The work commenced through the prophet Joseph Smith is true.  The Book of Mormon is of God and Zion will be.

“For I am His, and He is mine –

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.”

 ~ Keith Getty

"Be Good"

By Megan Morash

     When I was five or six years old, I had a dream where I saw a group of people, some of whom I recognized.  We were all standing in a circle and holding hands in the middle of my family’s living room.  We all looked up at the ceiling where an angel was coming down.  The angel had something in his hand.  I remember that it was something we all greatly desired.  After the angel came down, he went around to each person asking if we would make a promise to be good all our lives; and if we would, then the angel would give us what he had in his hand.  He warned us that if we promised to be good, and broke that promise, what he had in his hand would be taken away from us.

     When the angel came to me, he asked if I could make the promise to be good.  I remember saying that I didn’t know if I could be good for the rest of my life.  My sister McKenzie said, “We’ll help you.”  Everybody else agreed and said that they would help me too.  I remember feeling so encouraged by this.  I then told the angel I would try my hardest to be good, and he gave me what was in his hand. Although I don’t remember what was in his hand, or what everything in my dream meant, I can say that this dream has helped me to remember to “be good” and to try my hardest to encourage others to “be good” as well.

The Well In the Wildnerness

By Hal Edwards

     About the time I was joining the Church, our congregation took a trip to the Kirtland Temple.  We did various projects to help with the costs as they hired a bus and driver to get us there.

     Anyway, I remember being in church while we were preparing for the trip.  I was thinking about the preparation required to have a spiritual experience on this trip, when I saw in a vision a dry, dusty place.  There was a hole in the ground built up with flat stones around the top a foot or so high.  There were other stones lying around the area.

     This hole seemed to be a well.  Looking inside, I saw that there was cool, refreshing water, even though outside of the well the ground was dry and dusty.  The water was just low enough in the well to be out of reach.  I thirsted for a drink of that water.

     Suddenly the thought came to my mind that if I picked up some of the smooth, loose stones lying about and put them in the well, I could get the water level to rise.  The more stones I placed in the well, the higher the water would come until I could reach it enough to drink of it.

     Then I realized this was how preparation for a spiritual experience works.  The more you put into it, by fasting, prayer, and study, the more God is able to reach you to give you a blessing.

      I always remember this experience when I’m studying, although I’m sad to say I don’t always prepare as much as I should.

"The Book of Mormon Is True"

By Ginger Murnieks

     I was recently privileged to attend a PSI Tours trip to Meso-America.  On Monday, the first day, we would be traveling to a site dating back to Book of Mormon times.  We awoke to excitement in the air.  As we traveled to Dzibanche, a site with a pyramid which the base of dates back to AD 250-600, the anticipation grew.  We arrived at the site and climbed our first pyramid of the trip.  As I stood on top of that pyramid, high above the trees, I knew the Book of Mormon is true.  The Book of Mormon talks of many battles that were fought between the Lamanites and the Nephites.  A building such as this could have easily been used as a lookout tower in Book of Mormon days.  There was a beautiful spirit in that place.

     As I thought about the godly people that could have lived in that city, my mind was drawn to how God was with them.  He gave Nephi faith, Captain Moroni courage, King Benjamin wisdom, Ammon and Aaron zeal, and Moroni hope.  But that same God is with me giving me everything I need if I will only seek first to bring forth His kingdom.  I now read the Book of Mormon with more fervor, knowing more fully than I did before that it is true.

The Book of Mormon on the Worship Center Table

By Dwight A. Burford, www.hisworkmanship.net

     After graduating from high school in 1974 I attended my final church youth camp at the Romoca Lodge camp near Palmer Lake, Colorado.  The ministry and fellowship present at the camp produced a rich and inspiring spiritual environment.  At one point, while walking over to the baseball field one afternoon with a friend I found myself looking down at my feet to see if I was still walking on the ground.  I felt so incredibly wonderful.  As we walked and talked together I longed to continue in the fellowship of the One who had brought each of us such unspeakable joy. 

     Soon after returning home from camp, a number of youth, who had been at the camp, came to our small mission in Canon City, Colorado, for a witnessing weekend.  During the Sunday worship I shared how the Lord had blessed me at the camp and that He was now leading me to draw close to Him through studying the scriptures.  However, as I testified that morning, I did not know where to begin. 

     The Three Standard Books, as they are often called in the Restoration, posed a formidable challenge to me because reading in general had always been very difficult for me.  In fact, back in grade school I had been placed in special reading classes because I had such difficulty.  But while testifying before the congregation that morning of God’s goodness in my life, my attention was drawn to the Book of Mormon on the worship center table.  In that moment the Lord impressed upon me the understanding that I should begin by reading this book of scripture.

     Since I did not have a copy of the Book of Mormon of my own, I began reading from the worship center copy in our mission building.  The compelling witness of Jesus Christ contained in the pages of the Book of Mormon drew me to this small, humble sanctuary nearly every evening after work and on many weekends until I had read it cover to cover.  What I had read confirmed to me that this indeed is a true record of God’s covenant peoples whom He had led to the Americas over two and a half millennia ago.

     On a personal level, the writings contained in the Book of Mormon were as challenging to me as they were intriguing and inspiring.  They caused me to examine my life, especially my desires and motives.  As a result, each evening it seemed I spent as much or more time in prayer as I did reading.  One passage of scripture was especially sobering to me.

     And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they became more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had known these things.  Alma 14:58

     Upon reading this verse for the first time, I found myself going to my knees calling upon the Lord to keep me from such an end.  I pleaded with Him to stir my heart to faithfulness all through my life so that I would never deny Him.  Reading on, other verses served to reinforce this same desire and prayer to remain faithful unto the end of my life (Alma 31:37, Helaman 2:161-167, III Nephi 3:12-20, Mormon 4:36-56).

     Although I had had such trouble reading in my youth, reading became much easier as I progressed in my journey through the Book of Mormon.  Simultaneously I felt a cleansing taking place in my soul.  I grew to want nothing more than to know Jesus Christ of whom the prophets of this land had spoken so plainly (Ether 5:41).  I wanted to serve Him in whatever way or capacity I could and, if possible, to participate in His work of redemption in these latter days (Moroni 8:2).  Equal to this growing desire in my heart, I felt a calling beginning to emerge, a calling to do something with this incredible witness of Jesus Christ and His work and ministry. 

      In the fall of the same year I became very busy working as a machinist in Canon City and commuting to Pueblo, Colorado, to attend college courses.  I was soon elected to be the boy’s youth leader in our church District, which placed a responsibility on me to hold activities for the young men of the several branches and missions in Southeast Colorado. 

     During this busy time in my life, my hunger to know Jesus Christ and His ways continued to motivate my study and prayer life.  One notable event occurred in the fall of 1974.  I spent a weekend in a friend’s primitive cabin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Southern Colorado.  Amazingly, I was able to read the entire New Testament of the Bible that weekend.  The words of the apostles came alive, and filled my soul even as the Book of Mormon had as I read of Jesus and His marvelous words and work among His people.  It was then that I realized I had been healed of my reading disabilities while reading from the Book of Mormon earlier during the summer of that year.

"This Is Still My Church"

By Jennifer Raffety

     As a pre-teen and teen, I was always looking for a friend who would tell me about their church and its beliefs.  I was dissatisfied with the teaching and beliefs of my parent’s denominational choice and hoped to find one that adhered to the scriptures more closely, especially the New Testament church that Christ set in order.
     During this time, one of my boyfriends was RLDS and would take me to his church occasionally.  After a few services, I began to see similarities between the New Testament church and the RLDS.  I wondered if it would, eventually, match up with the New Testament church and pass the test I had for finding a church I could commit to and serve in.  One by one, with each passing attended service and religious discussion coupled with church tracts that I studied, the RLDS church held true.  I was getting excited about this discovery!
    About the time my boyfriend was called into the priesthood, of which both calling and priesthood, I understood little, if anything, Wallace B. Smith was to be ordained President of the World RLDS Church.  Since we lived in Independence, we had the opportunity to attend the ordination service at the Auditorium.  I understood little about this event except that is was very special and carried great import for Church members.
     My boyfriend picked me up quite early considering the time of the service and we drove to the Auditorium.  It was packed.  We ended up sitting in the very top row of the balcony, just about in the middle of the back.  I could make out the faces of those on the rostrum if I squinted but I didn’t know anybody anyway, so it didn’t matter.  I was there to continue testing the spirit and I was strongly rooting for this church to win.
     I didn’t notice anything unusual about the service except that the singing was incredible.  I had only been in the building for an RLDS service once before and that was a Center Stake Christmas program.  The singing then was lovely but I attributed that to the Christmas season and good acoustics.  The singing on the night of Wallace B. Smith’s ordination was powerful and saturated with the Holy Spirit.  It almost took my breath away.
     However, when Wallace B. Smith sat down to be ordained and the men came forward to ordain him, there was a definite change in the entire room.  As hands were placed upon Wallace’s head, I could feel the cold, dead-like spirit of Satan enter and take over the service.
The RLDS church just lost the final test I had for it.
     I was so disappointed and I wasn’t about to waste any time in that room with that spirit.  I turned to my boyfriend and whispered,

     “Get me out of here.”  His reply of “Shhhh” only made me more insistent. 

     I whispered back, “If you don’t get me out of here right now, I will make a scene, regardless of the importance of this service to you or anyone else in this big building.” 

     With a look that said I was absolutely insane, he muttered, “Okay.” We began the awkward process of exiting past people’s knees and apologizing as we went.
     Once we were outside the room and walking down an endless procession of ramps, I let him have it.  He said not a word, drove me home in silence and did not even say goodbye when I excited the car.  I figured that relationship was over but I had retained the greater prize, in my opinion: the truth!
     During my private prayer time that evening, I shared it all with the Lord: my disappointment, how the service transpired, the awful feeling when Satan walked into that service, my boyfriend’s blindness to the truth, the sadness of a people who were misguided.  When I had spilled it all out, I told God I would continue to worship Him the “New Testament way” to the best of my ability as it seemed to me there weren’t any options left.
    He spoke to me in His still small voice, “This is still My Church.  Man will do what he will, but this is still My Church.”
     Needless to say, within a short amount of time, I was baptized.  The years of turmoil between the change in church policy allowing women in the priesthood and the loose formation of Restoration branches did not discourage me.  I had already faced that before joining the church and was at peace with God leading His children, rather than man.

The Scriptures Are for Me

By Ginger Murnieks

      Before we left for our trip to Meso-America, my mom purchased nine Spanish Book of Mormons to give away to Lamanite descendants in Meso-America.  We planned to give one away every day of the trip.  At first I was a little unsure about this because I didn’t know how people would receive the books, but I was excited to share the gospel with those who had never heard it before.  God blessed us tremendously!  Every single person that we gave a book to received it enthusiastically.  I was so excited and a little surprised.

     I didn’t really understand what was going on until one night the answer was revealed to me.  I was talking to one of my brothers about how enthusiastic people were to receive the Word, and he said one night he couldn’t sleep and he decided to read the scriptures.  He said that when he couldn’t sleep, he would usually read the Bible, but on this night he reached for the Book of Mormon.  He read one of the parts in the Book of Mormon about how the Gentiles will take the Book of Mormon to the descendants of the Lamanites and how they will rejoice over it.  I saw the scriptures being fulfilled in my lifetime and this amazed me.  The great God that worked among Nephi, Alma, and the Brother of Jared is working among us today.

     When I read the scriptures I somehow think that the scriptures were fulfilled by people that came before me or they will be fulfilled by those that come after me, or that maybe they will be fulfilled by me but it won’t happen until I’m older.  This experience helped me to realize more fully that the scriptures are for me and that I have a work to do right now.  This amazes me and I am so grateful to my God for this understanding. 

 

 

“And it came to pass that I beheld the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the book of the Lamb of God, which had proceeded forth from the mouth of the Jew, that it came forth from the Gentiles, unto the remnant of the seed of my brethren; And after it had come forth unto them, I beheld other books which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles, and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true.”

~ 1 Nephi 3:190-191

A Great Effect

By Jonathan Cox

      A few years ago, my family and I went out to lunch. When we got our food, we all held hands and prayed like we always do, not thinking anything of it. As we were leaving after our meal, this woman came up to one of my brothers and asked him to get my mom’s attention because the woman wanted to tell her something. He did and and my mom came back inside the door. The woman, who had tears running down her face, told my mom thank you. She began to express how happy it made her to see a family praying together in a public place. That was it. This was an amazing thing to see. Even something as small as saying a prayer in public brought someone to tears. It stands to show us that little things we do in our everyday lives can have a great effect on people, even if we don’t realize it.

“‘Tis a war that calls for valor;

‘Tis a conflict with the world;

There can be no furlough granted;

Never must the flag be furled.

We can never cease the conflict

Till the summons home be heard;

We have all for life enlisted

In the army of the Lord.”

~ Joseph Woodward

Rock

By Ginger Murnieks

     Our family goes to a gym some mornings.  One day, I was on a spiritual high and really felt the need to witness to people.  I was playing soccer in the gym and trying to be a light to those around me.  There was an old man walking around the gym.  I think I smiled at him.  He told me that I was good at soccer and kept walking.  I felt I had an opportunity to be a light to him and said goodbye to him before he left.  I am so thankful that this instance happened during a time when I was very focused on being a light; sadly, if I were not focused, I may not have tried to reach out to this man.  How many opportunities do I miss to be a witness for my Heavenly Father because I do not focus my mind on heavenly things continually? 

     I maybe saw this man for a few more times after that and then I did not see him for a while.  I do believe I prayed for him some during the time I did not see him.  Then, one day when we were at the gym, I saw him again.  He told me that when he walked around the gym, he would look for me, and whenever he didn’t see me he would pray for me.  I knew the Lord had helped me to be a light to this man and was continuing to give me opportunity to witness to him!  God blessed my efforts as I tried to serve Him by bearing record of Himself to this man.  My brother and I gave the man a Book of Mormon and a testimony book.  He even came to church and prayer meeting a few times.  I don’t know where he is now, but I still pray for him.  His name is Rock.  God is so good to me!  He multiplies my efforts to serve Him and gives me the strength I need day by day!

Witnessing to the Lamanites

By Donovan Murnieks

     My family was getting ready to go on a tour in Central America.  Our church branch had been preparing for two years, both spiritually and physically, and I was very excited.  I wondered what I could do to glorify God.

     On the Book of Mormon lands tour, my family was planning on giving out some Spanish Book of Mormons.  I did not know how people would like that, because in America certain people dislike the Book of Mormon very much.  So I was both excited and a little nervous.  However, the first time we gave out a Libro de Mormon, the person we gave it to was overjoyed!  They took it with gladness and were very happy. 

     Then, my sister was talking about the promise in 1 Nephi 3:190-191, where it says that the Lamanites shall receive the Word with joy.  I was very happy and thanked the Lord.  It was amazing the scripture was being fulfilled right in front of my eyes.

     The trip was amazing.  I learned so much and grew closer to the Lord. 

“For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, and be sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.  And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.  And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored to the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.  And then they shall rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God.”

~ 2 Nephi 12:80-83

Comforted by a Presence

By Hannah Edwards

       I used to get strep throat just about every year as a child.  When I got it at the age of twelve, the doctor told me that my tonsils were abnormally large and would probably have to be removed someday.  I wasn’t really a fan of that thought, to be sure!

       In December of 2015, I came down with what I thought was a really bad cold.  By the next day I could no longer talk, and that night I kept waking up every fifteen minutes.  My parents decided I needed to go to urgent care in the morning.  When I got there, the doctor looked down my throat and asked again how long it had been since I had felt badly.  “Three days,” we told him.

     “This is very rare,” he said.  “Normally when people come in with this bad of a case, it’s been going on for at least two weeks and they can’t stand the pain anymore.”  He told us that my tonsils were as far apart as the end of a ballpoint pen, and that if they swelled anymore, I would suffocate.  The doctor also told me that he thought, based on the timeline of my feeling ill, that it was not strep throat, but an abscess behind my tonsils.  He sent us to the emergency room.

   On the way there, I texted several of my friends and asked for prayers.  One texted me back, quoting the lines from the song “Whom Shall I Fear” by Chris Tomlin:

“The One who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine; the God of angel armies is always by my side.”

   When Mom and I arrived at the emergency room, they looked down my throat and told me they would put me in a room as soon as they could.  They gave me a chair in the hallway while Mom went to talk to another gentleman.  I was frightened – I had never been in the hospital before.  I didn’t know what to expect, and now I couldn’t even see Mom anymore. 

    All of a sudden, I felt as though Someone were sitting next to me.  I turned and looked, but I couldn’t see anyone.  As soon as this happened, my fears were gone and I felt totally at peace. 

    When the doctors finally saw me, they decided it was just an aggravated case of strep throat, and that I would be fine.  They sent me home with instructions to rest and take my medicine. 

   Upon attending church the next Sunday, several people told me how they had been praying for me that day, and how they had even said a prayer for me at an Older Youth meeting that evening.  I felt so blessed, not just with the comfort that I had needed, but with such wonderful brothers and sisters as well.

Saved From a Fall

By Taylor Clinton

     One day I decided to go to the creek behind my house to look to the water.  I was looking at the water and went over to a cliff overlooking the creek.  It was a sheer drop.  It was really muddy and slippery, and I wasn’t really paying attention.  I got closer and closer to the cliff edge, and as I got closer, I started to slip.  I didn’t pay attention and kept getting closer, and I fell.  As I fell, I felt something – and heard it, too.  Something grabbed onto my coat, and tugged up on my jacket.  I was lifted off the ground one or two feet.  I looked behind me quickly to see if someone had picked me up from falling, and no one was there.  I know for a fact it was an angel that saved my life that day.

“For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee; and in his hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”  ~ Luke 4:10

Angels Sang with the Choir -- Part II

By Taylor Clinton

     We were at the South Crysler Restoration Branch at a beautiful music service.  People were playing piano solos and beautiful music.  When it was time for the Young Adult Choir to sing their choir songs, I decided to put my head between my legs and listen to the beautiful music.  I prayed and asked God if I could hear angels singing.  I closed my eyes, and just concentrated really hard to just listen.  All of a sudden I heard really high-pitched voices singing.  It almost sounded as pretty as a violin.  I looked up at the choir as they were singing, and there was a beautiful glow around them.

“Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all his hosts.”  ~ Psalms 148:2

Angels Sang with the Choir -- Part I

By Hannah Edwards

     It was the summer of 2015.  My parents and I were going to make our yearly trip to the South Crysler Restoration Branch Reunion, and this year we were taking my friend Taylor, too. 

     I had prayed and prayed for weeks about it.  I wanted it to be a good experience for all of us.  I was nervous about Taylor meeting my friends, and I think she was nervous about so many new things.  Nevertheless, we were excited. 

     The week went on and many people had incredible testimonies.  So did we.  One that sticks out to me is from Thursday night of that week. 

     A Special Music Service was scheduled for Thursday night, and a lot of the musicians – vocalists, flautists, and pianists alike – had prepared beautiful pieces of music.  The South Crysler Restoration Branch Young Adult Choir had selected two numbers, one entitled ‘And Can It Be’, and one called ‘My Jesus, I Love Thee’.

     As the choir sang the first song, I reflected on the words, which talked about how much God loves us and how He gave of Himself for us.  I was stunned by what He did for us, and I felt the Spirit in great abundance. 

     At last we reached what I consider the climax of the song.  The words read, “Alive in Him, my Living Head; and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown through Christ, my own.” 

      As we sang these words, I was given the knowledge that angels were standing before us, singing.  Tears came to my eyes and rolled down my cheeks.  The love of God was so apparent to me at that moment, and I hope I never forget that experience.

Hugged by a Special Being

By Naomi DeSelms

      Several years ago, my older sister Kim was going to move out.  At that time, she was the only friend I had, and it did not seem right that God would take away the only friend I had.  This was not some selfish feeling.  I knew Kim was not supposed to move away yet, but I couldn’t prevent it.  Kim had already bought the supplies she needed, she had enough money to support herself…what could I do?

      I started praying about this because everything that was happening did not seem right at all.  Soon, I fell into this depression, and I wanted someone to know how I felt, and to just comfort me and give me a hug.  At that time I was not a hugger, and I knew that if I asked any of my family for a hug they’d think I was weird or something.  Therefore, I didn’t say anything to them.

     A few days later, I was in the laundry room hanging up some shirts, but in that moment I broke down in tears, wondering why Kim was moving out.  All of a sudden, I felt someone’s arms wrap around me from behind.  I was startled at first, and I looked around to see if anyone was there, but no one was.  I could still feel those arms, and soon I felt warm, comforted, and at peace.  I felt reassured that everything was going to be alright.  Then, the arms left me.

     I decided to leave the laundry room to try to gather my thoughts about what had just happened.  God gave me a hug because He knew that I needed reassurance and comfort.  Later that day, I learned that Kim was not moving out.  I just praise God that He was there for me.  He was, and is, my true Friend, but it was nice that He let me keep my earthly friend. 

“Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged;

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer!”

~ Joseph Scriven

Protected from Injury

By Kim DeSelms

     On August 29^th, 2014, God saved my life.  As I was driving to school I wrecked my car.  I was listening to a class from a Reunion, and I was so focused on what the speaker was saying that I wasn’t paying attention to the mile markers.  I noticed too late that I was at the exit I needed, and I made the split-second decision to try to make the exit anyway – trying to slow down from seventy miles per hour.  The steering wheel stopped responding and I ended up going through the exit sign, crossing both lanes on I-70, hitting the wired median, and bouncing back across I-70 and the exit ramp.  Even though I totaled my car that day, I was so blessed because:

     1. The only harm that came to me from the wreck was a small scratch from where the airbag hit my arms.

     2. I crossed I-70 twice without being hit by oncoming traffic on Labor Day Weekend.  A large number of the cars that travel I-70 and were on the road that day were truckers.  If I had been hit, I’m sure that I would have been badly injured, or died.

     3. When my car came to a stop, it didn’t slam to a stop, like it should have.  Instead, it coasted to a gentle stop.

     4. The sign didn’t go through my windshield, and the windshield didn’t shatter when the airbags deployed.  The state trooper who documented the accident said that he was surprised that the windshield wasn’t broken when the airbags deployed, because it usually is.

     5. Many people were kind enough to stop to make sure I was okay.

     6. Three state troopers showed up to the accident, but the one who stayed was the first one who showed up.  This was a blessing because the other ones didn’t seem very friendly, and the one who stayed was very kind throughout the whole process.

     7. My brother Chris was able to pick me up after the car was towed.

     8. The wreck happened before the weekend, so there was time to sort out the issues.  Plus, my dad had a spare care that I could drive while the other car was being repaired.

     9.  God saw fit to protect me, and ensured that no harm came to me.

     I could go on and on about how God blessed me that day, even though the situation that required the blessings wasn’t very good.  I know that there is no other explanation for how I blessed I was that day, and the great protection I received, other than that God protected me.

Protected by the Cross

By Joel Daugherty

     It was about 3:00 in the morning on July 7^th, 2013. I was in Afghanistan when there was a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on an eastern outpost near Pakistan. One of our buildings got hit hard. The rocket didn't explode when it hit the tin roof. It came in through the roof and exploded inside the bed of a guy who had just left for his tower guard shift. The shrapnel from the rocket's explosion only wounded the seven other guys in the building – it could have easily killed them all. One of our medics, who was asleep when the first rocket came in through the roof, had his body armor hanging on a body armor cross.  A body armor cross is two 2x4 boards nailed together to form a standing cross to support your body armor when you aren't wearing it.  The medic had written Ephesians 6:10-18 on his body armor cross. When the rocket exploded, his armor and the body armor cross stopped several pieces of shrapnel from hitting him; one would have hit him in the head. Later that day we all publicly thanked God for his protection over us all. Praise the Lord.

 

 

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints.”

~ Ephesians 6:10-18

The Voice of Wisdom

By Kaetlyn Parker

   About three years ago, I went to a junior high camp at Odessa Hills Campground.  In case you don't know, I'm a type one diabetic, and as such, I need to keep my blood sugar in a rage of seventy to one hundred forty.  If my blood sugar gets lower than seventy, I usually get shaky and feel really loopy.  You can treat low blood sugars with juice or something else sugary.  If my blood sugar goes untreated, I could go lower and lower, and sink into a coma.  If left untreated then, you die.

     So one day at camp we were having our evening activity and I started to feel a little weird.  I checked my blood sugar and found out that it was slightly low at sixty-five.  I ate and apple and carried on with the fun.  At 10:00 P.M. we tumbled into our cabin.  We goofed off and had fun till almost lights out. Everyone started to turn in.  I was getting ready to go to sleep, when something in my head said "You need to check your blood sugar."  I ignored it for a while, until finally I just decided to check my blood and get it over with.  I checked my blood. It was at thirty-two.  If I had gone to sleep, I probably would have gone into a coma and died.  I truly believe that God saved my life.

“God will take care of you through all the day,

Shielding your footsteps, directing your way;

He is your Shepherd, Protector, and Guide,

Leading his children where still waters glide.

God will take care of you still to the end;

Oh, what a Father, Redeemer, and Friend!

Jesus will answer whenever you call;

He will take care of you, trust him for all.”

 

~ Fanny J. Crosby

The Tree Fell Uphill

By Kim DeSelms

     I was baptized on June 4^th, 2000, and we were supposed to have a big storm that day.  We decided to go ahead with the baptism and prayed that God would hold back the rain until the service was over.  Our prayers were answered and it didn’t even sprinkle until the service was over.  There was a big storm that afternoon and the sky got really dark and it was storming pretty good.  My grandad and his wife Kristie hung around with us until the storm was over.  Once the storm passed, and Grandad and his wife went outside to head home, we noticed that the storm had blown down a large tree at the top of the hill in our front yard.  Down the hill from our driveway we had a lower drive, and that is where Grandad had parked his car.  We were very blessed because the tree, which was growing up out of the hill, fell uphill instead of downhill onto Grandad’s car.

The Undamaged Car

By Hannah Edwards

     A Zion’s League meeting had been planned for October 31^st, 2014, and I was excited about attending.  I hadn’t been in high school for very long, and getting to be with the awesome teenagers was cool.  I had few other friends than those in League, and certainly no friends who were not Church members.

     Needless to say, I prayed all of that Friday to be able to attend that night.  The meeting was supposed to start at six o’clock sharp.  Mom called me at five, explaining that she hadn’t been able to get away from work earlier.  She was coming to pick me up before we went to the grocery store to pick up a snack, and then hurried to Zion’s League at South Crysler Restoration Branch.  As soon as she pulled into the driveway, I was out of the house.  I wasn’t really worried about getting there on time.  It was 5:15, and surely it wouldn’t take long to run by the store and grab a package of fruit for a snack.

     Mom and I turned the corner just down from our house and headed north on Lees Summit Road.  We were heading for the Hy-Vee at the corner of Lees Summit and 23^rd Street.  As we slowed and stopped, I heard a crash and our car moved forward.  Mom was wearing a headband that flew down into the floorboard, and pain surged through my neck.  I looked in the rear-view mirror, and a car was behind us.  I knew we had been rear-ended.  I also knew that damage must have been caused, because the feeling of the crash was severe.  The third thing I knew was that only God could get me to Zion’s League that night.

     Mom got out of the car to talk to the lady who hit us, and a man who worked for the fire department was behind us.  He called 911.  I knew I would have to get out to talk with the others.

     “God, I really want to get to Zion’s League tonight,” I prayed.  Then I stepped out of the car and went around behind.  I looked at the other lady’s front bumper, and it was absolutely perfect.  It looked like she had never been in a wreck.  Hardly believing my eyes, I turned to look at our back bumper. 

     There was not a scratch, not a dent, nothing.  It was perfectly fine.  By that time, a police officer had shown up, but Mom and the other lady came to an agreement that there had been no damage and no one was injured (my whiplash went away after only a couple of days), so we cleared and went our separate ways.

     Mom and I pulled into the parking lot of Hy-Vee, ran in, grabbed some grapes, and ran back out.  We drove carefully to the church, where my League leaders sat in the parking lot waiting for the first of the teenagers.  I glanced at the clock before I got out.  I was fifteen minutes early.

The First Time God Saved My Life

By Saralee Rhoads

     When I was about ten years of age, my mother and I traveled by car to Iowa from Independence, Missouri.  We traveled north on Highway 291, which was then a two-lane highway.  We were going to visit friends of her, and she had given me a camera, so I was entertained taking snapshots of cows as we traveled northward.

     At one point she saw a semi barreling towards us, and it looked like it was taking up its lane and part of ours as well.  She inched over to give it more room.  In the process, she hit a chuckhole on the side of the road.  Our car spun 180 degrees, and my side of the car slammed into the semi.  The force of the impact spun our car 360 degrees, and my side of the car slammed into a second semi following the first one.  My side of the car just disappeared.  I was thrown about fifteen or twenty feet onto the pavement.   The doors of the car on my side were gone.  The frame was gone.  The seats were gone.  My mother’s side of the car looked pristine, with clothes hanging behind her seat neatly arranged, not a dress out of place. 

     When the state patrol and ambulance arrived, I was taken to the emergency room because I was crying.  There wasn’t a bruise on me, but they feared there might be internal injuries, and after all, I was crying.  My mother explained, “She’s crying because her camera is broken!”  True.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with me.

      At the time, being ten, I thought nothing of it.  Years later, working as a nurse in the emergency room, I saw the deadly result of MVAs where passengers were thrown from vehicles.  It was never a pretty picture, and I thought back to my experience: being hit twice, having the car pulverized, being thrown onto the pavement, and not having a scratch or bruise anywhere on my body.  I stood once to share the first time God had spared my life, and the Spirit whispered to me, “That wasn’t the first time…”

    And if you want to hear that testimony, you’ll have to ask me!

"The Key Is Not in the Vehicle"

By Krista Schoff

     One Monday right after school, my friend asked me to drop her off at her mom’s work.  It was also my mom’s work.  I dropped her off and talked to my mom for a while, and then I headed home.  You can see my house in the sightlines on the highway there.  I was driving and I saw smoke coming from near my house, but since we live on a farm and regularly burn trash I didn’t think anything of it.  As I got closer, however, I could tell that it wasn’t a trash fire, but that our shed was on fire.  Living on a farm, most of our necessary equipment, including pickups, tools, and other like things, is stored in our shed.  When I saw the fire, my heart dropped. 

     I pulled in the driveway, and my sister-in-law, Julia, was standing there on the phone with the fire department trying to tell them the information. At the same time, I was trying to contact my dad or brother, since they are usually together.  When I did not reach anyone, it frightened me that they might be inside.  After Julia got off with the fire department, she was able to get ahold of my brother Eric.  As Eric and Father were headed home I called my mom also.  After I got off the phone the fire department, police, and ambulance arrived at our house.  Soon my mother and other brother, Joshua, arrived also and tried to get the pickups out of the shed. 

     As the police were questioning Julia and me, Eric called.  He needed someone to pick them up since they were stranded on the side of the road.  I, being the only one free, was volunteered to go pick them up.  My car was blocked off by the fire department and other emergency vehicles, so the closest free car was my mom’s brand new car.  Being a new car it was a keyless entry, which means you have to have the key fob within five feet on the car to start it and it was to be in the passenger or driver’s seat for the car to go into gear.  Being an emotional wreck, I just jumped in the car and drove off, not thinking of the key. 

     I got all the way to where my dad and brother were stranded and my dad took over driving home.  As we got barely a mile down the road, the car began to ding, saying, “The key is not in the vehicle.”  I panicked and began looking through my mom’s bags and couldn’t find it.  I was in tears thinking the car would shut off, because it has a safety mechanism to where if it doesn’t have the key it shuts off. 

     When we finally made it home safely, I asked my mom where the key was and she pulled it out of her pocket.  When I started the car, my mom was at least 200 feet away.  My parents have tried starting the car being ten feet away and it won’t start.  The Lord really blessed my whole family that day.

Loving My Sister

By Jeff Ohmer

      I am an older brother, and I picked on my sister more than I should have when I was younger.  When I was seven, I had a dream one night. In this dream, I was playing outside in our front yard with our dog, and I looked up and saw a bright light. I thought it was the sun, but as I continued to watch it, I saw that Zion was descending. I then saw Jesus in front of me and He told me if I wanted to be in the Kingdom I needed to be nicer to my sister. When I heard that I realized I needed to change my attitude towards my sister.  But it didn't stop with my sister, and I have tried to treat each person I meet with love. 

Blessings In School

By Kim DeSelms

     When I first started going to college, I didn’t really know what career path to take.  I started off in accounting, and then later transferred to culinary school.  I found that culinary school wasn’t the career path I wanted to be in and I ended up dropping out of school after about a month.  Because it was partway through the semester, I couldn’t just go somewhere else for school and start right away, so I needed to get a job to pay off student loans I had accumulated over the previous semester and a half of school.  I applied to the Walmart in Cameron, MO, where I live, and I was blessed with a job interview.  At the interview they said I could work Sundays, and asked if that was correct.  I told them that I could work any day or time besides Sunday and that I had written that on my application.  They told me that I needed to correct my application so that it reflected that I wasn’t available to work on Sundays.  I had applied to work there before, and had not even gotten an interview.  I don’t know if they would have called me in for an interview if my application hadn’t shown up incorrectly in their system, but I was very blessed because I ended up getting a job there and was able to pay off my student loans.

     I started back to school a little over a year later and I still wasn’t sure what path to take.  I tried a few more things, but I was blessed because my Grandmother took an interest in my future and signed me up to visit a career counselor for career testing.  As a result of that, I was able to select a career path that I have found to be very interesting and enjoyable and I am scheduled to graduate in May of 2016.  I have been very blessed to have been able to pay for my schooling in cash, which was something that I really wanted to do.  God has blessed me so greatly and provided for me above and beyond my needs.

     While I was in school, there was a charity that I wanted to give to, but I wasn’t sure that I could afford to give as I desired to.  I was blessed in that one of my teachers entered classwork for two of the classes that I was in into a programming competition by KCPL.  My team ended up getting first place on one competition and I got second place on the other competition.  We were awarded a sum of money for the competitions, and I was able to take my part of the money and give it to the charity that I had wanted to give to.  It is so awesome to realize that God took the desire of my heart to give, and then provided me with the ability to do so using competitions that I hadn’t even signed up for.  Our God is an awesome God!

A Christ-Like Attitude

By Zoey Gard

     Two summers ago, I had the opportunity to go on a caravan, which is basically like a summer camp where you travel the country and make stops in different states.  We do service projects and put on church services across America.  One of our stops was in Nashville, Tennessee.  While there, we were able to help at a soup kitchen and serve lunch to some people who were homeless.  To be honest, I was completely expecting most of the people who came in to be grumpy and not friendly.  I’m not sure why I thought that; I shouldn’t have been so naïve.  I mentally prepared myself for rude and unfriendly people, and I told myself that we were here to serve and represent Jesus and it didn’t matter how anyone treated us.

      As the doors opened and people began to come in, I was almost instantly humbled by how kind everyone was.  Almost everyone that came in smiled and thanked us.  I had some lovely conversations with many of them.  I even asked one man how he was doing and with a smile he said, “Well, I got up this morning, and that means I’m doing great!”  This was really just a great testimony that showed you should never judge a book by its cover.  We have no excuse to be rude or mean to anyone because these people who have almost nothing were so loving and kind.  This experience was a true example to me of what a Christ-like attitude is.

Standing Unashamed

By Hannah Edwards

     I had many amazing testimonies the summer I turned fifteen.  I went to the South Crysler Restoration Branch Reunion, Mammoth Camp, and I even went on a trip with my Zion’s League.  We visited Church history sites in Palmyra, New York, and Kirtland, Ohio.

    At the SCRB Reunion, the theme was “We Would See Jesus.”  We were called to look for Him in ways we had never seen Him before.  Truly, we saw Him in the love of brothers and sisters we had never met, the prayers for each other, and the everyday actions of kindness.  I started to think about what it would be like to see Jesus face-to-face.  I had heard testimonies of others who saw Him – even read in the Scriptures of people like King Lamoni.  I wanted to pray to have a testimony like that.  I wanted it badly…but somehow, I felt unworthy.  I felt very unworthy.

    After Reunion ended, there were about two weeks in which I had to prepare for the Zion’s League trip to Palmyra and Kirtland.  I had been reading the Book of Mormon and praying quite a bit, but my devotion to spending time daily with the Lord tapered off during the first week.

    The Sunday before we left for the trip, I was talking to a friend about Kirtland.  He was telling me about how he had gone when he had been in Zion’s League.  We were talking about trivial things, like where we would be staying, what kind of van we would be driving, and such, when my friend suddenly stopped.  He looked at me and then said solemnly,

    “I know that if you will pray, and set your heart in the right direction, you will have an amazing experience.”  I had not told him of the thoughts I had been thinking – how much I wanted to have a wonderful testimony, but how I hardly dared to pray for it, because I felt unfit.  However, when he said that, I knew I could ask the Lord for anything – and I felt like He wanted me to ask Him.

     The next day, I knelt beside my bed and prayed earnestly for the trip.  I did that every day left – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  On Friday, we met at South Crysler Restoration Branch before the sun was up and began our twelve-hour drive.

     We had many blessings along our trip.  I found some small miracle every single day – an answered prayer, protection from small dangers along the lakefront in New York, and even worries that were calmed and fears that were stilled. 

      The next Wednesday, we had planned to tour the Kirtland Temple and then have a prayer service inside of it.  The elder who was presiding over the service asked each one of us to say a prayer, giving us each a subject.  Some were asked to praise the Lord; some were asked to thank Him.  I was asked to pray a prayer of repentance. 

     As we gathered in the Temple that night, we were quiet and expectant.  I felt so blessed to be in a place that Joseph and Emma Smith had been in, a place that so many like-minded people had seen and worshipped in. 

     We sang a hymn.  The elder who was presiding that night asked the first one of us to stand, calling us by name and reminding us of the topic he had asked us to pray about.  As the others prayed before me, I could tell that they felt something I did not feel. 

     Finally, we sang another hymn.  Then the presiding elder said, “Now, our sister Hannah will pray a prayer of repentance.”  I stood up and started to pray.  I remember feeling like my prayer didn’t have much meaning – I was saying things like, “Please forgive us of our sins and help us to be better people.”  I felt like it was so general and I didn’t have my heart behind it. 

    All of a sudden, I felt the Spirit of God wash over me.  It was in that moment that I realized how sinful I was – and am.  It was impressed upon me that if I saw Him as I was then, I would not be able to stand it. 

    I felt like a vase that had been shattered on a tile floor.  I felt so ashamed, more so than I had ever felt.  I started weeping, and quickly ended my prayer and sat down.  Someone wrapped her arm around me, and somehow the tissues that we had been passing among the rows found themselves in my lap.  I used the last two in the package and kept on sobbing.  I felt so ashamed that I could not stop crying!  I don’t remember who prayed after me or what they said.  The next thing I knew, the presiding elder was telling us to turn to the hymn ‘Redeemer of Israel’.  As we sang the closing lines, I was reminded of something.

     It was impressed upon me that if I am faithful, read the Scriptures, repent, and try to be good all the rest of my life, someday I will stand before the Lord and I will not be ashamed of what I’ve done.  When I realized that, I felt like the Lord had scooped me up in His arms and was holding me there, as if I was child and He was the loving Father He has always been to me. 

    Now I am so grateful for this testimony.  I am so glad that God is always willing to welcome me back when I have strayed.  I am grateful for His undying love.

“Fear not, and be just, for the Kingdom is ours,

And the hour of redemption is near.”

~ W.W. Phelps