The Keystone of our Religion

Sister Imazeki and me

We had a really great week here at Temple Square. The best part of it was getting to go to the Bountiful Temple. Everyone in our mission got to go and we went on different days, so I went on Tuesday. We met in the parking garage at 7:20am and all drove up to Bountiful. It was raining and then snowing, so I was glad that I wasn't driving. We went to the 9:00am session and it was wonderful. Bountiful is a beautiful (and very large) temple. I really liked the celestial room because it had big windows and there was lots of light coming in. It was so wonderful to be in my Father's house and to remember how much He loves me.

 

We also celebrated Halloween here. It was my favorite Halloween in my memory. They closed the square at 5:00pm so we all went to the basement of the South Visitors' Center and watched two movies in the theater there. We saw "Disipicable Me" and "The Best Two Years". We were also provided dinner: pizza, cupcakes, and lots of candy, as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste. It was really nice just to sit and relax and I didn't even have to worry about dressing up!

 

I had a really great phone call in the RC this week with Sarah. She was referred by her friend at General Conference and I finally got a hold of her! The bulk of our conversation started with me inviting her to read the Book of Mormon. She said, "sure, but first I have a question: why do I need the Book of Mormon if I already have the Bible?" So I went into explaining that the Book of Mormon is important because it teaches and testifies of Jesus Christ and if one has a testimony of the Book of Mormon then they know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church restored once again to the earth (last paragraph of the Introduction to the Book of Mormon). Then she asked why it is important the Joseph Smith is a prophet and not just a good person and her questions kind of went on from that. She was really trying to understand and had a lot of really good questions. Interestingly, in the end the answer to all of her questions was that she needed to read the Book of Mormon and ask if it is truly the word of God. The conversation made me really realize just how critical a testimony of the Book of Mormon is. If you don't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon then everything built on it crumbles. That's why it is called the keystone of our religion. So in the end, she said that she would call her member friend and set up something so that she would be accountable to her to read the Book of Mormon. Sarah didn't refer for missionaries right then, but I know that if she reads the Book of Mormon in the sincerity of her heart, with faith in Jesus Christ, and with the intent to act on what she reads, then she will come to know that the Book of Mormon is indeed the word of God.

 

Today we had our first big snow here and Sister Mata'utia, from Australia, is absolutely amazed by the phenomenon. She has never seen snow before so every new experience with snow for her is magical. She loves to have snow in her hair, she likes to take pictures with snow, she said that she would like to roll around in the snow and pretty much experience it in any way that she can. I think that when it is April and still snowing, she'll think otherwise. But for now it's cute.

 

Well, this coming Wednesday is transfers and I find out what is happening to me on Monday morning. I'll let you know what happens!