"Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has left you." George R. Zalucki
The Power of Prayer
Dear Sister Bassett,
I recorded this in my journal on Saturday, the 21 November: "The miracle for me today...was the lesson we had with a woman named Patricia. We met Patricia through a member that the Elders (Benson and Derochie) had met in a dinner appointment and then had referred to us. That lesson was one of the most powerful, spiritual lessons I feel that I have had in my mission. She was just so...prepared, I suppose I would say. She hungered after the message of the restoration and even told us Joseph Smith's story back to us (without invitation) after we had explained it. We invited her to pray, and even though she was nervous and anxious to do it, she did and toward the end of her prayer, began to speak with a great deal of emotion. With tears in her eyes as she closed the prayer, she said after we asked what she was feeling: 'I feel...this peace. I feel...beautiful.' She looked at us with a piercing gaze and, with The Book of Mormon outstretched toward us in her hands, said "I need this peace. I need these things. My children need to feel these things. I want to be a good mother. I want to be a good wife to my husband. I want to be a good person.'"
We left and said a prayer in the car in thanks for the miracles that God has been pouring out upon us, for that miracle is only one of thousands more that we have seen in these few short days. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve again with a dear friend and fellowservant in the work, and for the time that we have to do something about the miracles that God is sending to us. I know that they are not for our benefit alone, but for us to bless the lives of others.
Elder R
*To receive your own copy of The Book of Mormon" visit mormon.org
When I was 14 or 15, I had a teacher that prided himself on being a thinker. We had some enlightening discussions in his classroom. He helped me ask some great questions that led to tremendous answers that still guide me today. We agreed on many things, but were at odds on a few. One of them was religion. I had a lot of respect for this man, but it amazed me that someone who claimed to be open minded was blind to just how closed minded he was when it came to God. He was always challenging my faith. He considered my beliefs to be a sign of my weakness. His claim was that unless it could be acknowledged by the 5 senses, there was no proof that God existed. I struggled as a young person to help him understand that he was limiting his understanding to what he had personally experienced, cutting himself off from other possibilities. The best that I could do was to try and help him understand how I knew; that things of the spirit could only be understood and perceived by the spirit. Years later, I still don't have a better answer to this one fundamental question, but I face the same dilemma. This blog is dedicated to preserving stories and experiences of missionaries in the Arizona Mesa Mission both during and after their formal missions. Some stories are fun and light hearted, but others are of a spiritual nature. The blog forum is so convenient, yet the format is limiting. There is more to these words than letters on a page. To truly understand the messages requires not only an open mind, but a soft heart.
After all, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for?- Robert Browning"
Dear Sister Bassett,
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