Hi family!
As for me and my week and just some general information... I did not receive my travel plans today. I'll let you know next Thursday what the plan is. I can get a calling card from the bookstore here so don't worry about that.
This last week was a great one. I guess I can start with the lesson that one of the Presidency in my rama gave to my district on Joseph Smith. We talked about his account of the first vision in Joseph Smith History 1:16-20. If you haven't read it recently I would suggest doing so. Maybe for a family home evening or something. But his lesson really strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith and the first vision. He was a boy of 14 years old and he was living in a time where there was absolutely no technology. There weren't really any crazy ideas, he lived on a farm in the middle of the country. They didn't really have any imagination of supernatural things because that was so out of place at that time that it didn't make sense to anyone. So for him, at 14 years old, to make up the story that he did would be highly improbable. That he could concoct the story that the adversary attacked him and that the father and son (who were thought to be the same person- he would have to have made up completely new doctrine that goes against all the beliefs of the time) that they appeared to him as a pillar of light that gradually descended from above his head until they rested upon him would be absolutely ludacris unless it were actually true. He details it in such a way that is so different from anything that anyone could imagine from that era that, to me, it testifies that it was and is a true account. I truly believe that he was visited by God the father and by the son Jesus Christ and that he restored the gospel to what it is today, and for that I am so grateful. The church brings such peace, guidance and happiness to my life and I am so grateful for that.
But that night after the devotional we watched the Joseph Smith movie. I don't know if any of you have ever seen it but it is extremely powerful and worth watching. But it is all about the life of Joseph Smith and how he brought about the translation of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the church. And during the movie I kept asking, "If Joseph Smith was chosen by God, then why would he have been forced to suffer so much trial and affliction?" He was tarred and feathered, driven from his home so many different times, lost 5 children, put in prison and martyred. And I kept wondering "why?" And then It dawned on me that all of those afflictions and trials really were for his benefit and for the benefit of the church, just like D&C 121 says. Because he faced such adversity, and he never, NEVER not ONCE denied the church and the Book of Mormon, it gives him so much credibility! Why would he have stood by a fake church that he fabricated unless it really was true and it had come from God? He wouldn't have.
Then I thought that we have trials for the same reason, to build our faith and make us stronger, better people. I know that this church is true and that through it we can feel peace and comfort from our Savior, Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I Love you all!
Love,
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