Hey everyone! This week was so great, last Sunday we did a mini exchange with Jasper so there was four of us in our area and we went to an apartment complex to knock doors.
While we were there elder Rippstein and I met a man who moved here from Africa and spoke very little English but you could tell his heart was there and he really did want to talk with us more but physically couldn’t get the words out he wanted to. We saw so much potential in this man, so we asked if we could come back on Wednesday night.
Well Wednesday came around and Elder Beckey and I went back. Again we were running into the same struggle with communicating with him. We felt prompted to ask if we could come inside his home and sit down and talk. He eagerly let us in and to our surprise he had a daughter, who spoke perfect English!!
At first she wasn’t showing much interest in wanting to sit down with us to talk but we asked her if she’d be willing to translate for us and she stopped everything she was doing and came and helped us.
It was such a blessing, we were able to teach the entire restoration to him and because technology is so great, we helped him download the Book of Mormon on his phone in French so he could read from the Book of Mormon! And we left the daughter with an English copy for her to read as well.
We were so hyped after the lesson with them! The next Sunday night we visited with another family who we’ve been trying to get in with and had an amazing lesson on the Book of Mormon and the importance of reading from it.
We brought up he point that I think a lot of times people forget what all went into us being able to hold a physical copy for ourselves. There was a lot of sacrifices made for us to be able to receive this record of scripture.
Elder Jeffery R. Holland has a wonderful video/ talk on his testimony of the Book of Mormon where he brings up what Joseph Smith had to go through and what the pioneers went through as far as giving up all they had and traveling across plains being attacked, tortured, and killed all because they knew that this was true.
The Book of Mormon isn’t something to be taken lightly, it is there to bless our lives and strengthen us in times of need, but also to educate us on our Savior and how we can come closer to him.
That is why so often now we see prophets and apostles testifying and stressing the importance of daily reading. There is power behind the words that were written for us, there is strength in those words, and there is comfort to be found when we read daily.
I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I know how much of a difference it makes in our lives and in the lives of those around us. I hope everyone has a wonderful week, I love you!
Love,
Elder Summers
