by Rebecca

Meaning of Life on Earth

There is a lot that I don’t understand about my life, but I’m grateful to know the most important things about the meaning of life. These simple truths are taught as “the plan of happiness” within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called the “Mormon Church” by the media). I have found great happiness in my life knowing that there is purpose in my life.  We are each sons and daughters of God, and He sent us to earth for a purpose.

Last year, I went camping outdoors with some friends during the fall. I was surrounded by swirling autumn leaves and bright blue skies above the reddish mountain as I listened to Dieter F. Uchtdorf on the radio saying “Our Heavenly Father created the universe that we might reach our potential as His sons and daughters” (“You Matter to Him,” Ensign, October 2011). It’s hard to describe how close I felt to God while looking at His creations and the beauty around me, but I can say it was an overwhelming feeling of love, calm, and happiness. I’ve also felt this feeling as I’ve learned more about the meaning of life within the scriptures and as I’ve talked with Heavenly Father in prayer. I know for myself that He wants me to succeed in life and to be happy.

I’ve had many challenges in life, ranging from the death of my grandmother, a genetic terminal illness that took my mother, multiple surgeries, and of course just struggling through graduate schooling and the dating scene. Fortunately, the knowledge I have of the plan of happiness has given me a lot of hope and perspective as I’ve faced these circumstances. I would never wish such experiences upon anyone else, but I recognize that they were a necessary part of my journey here on earth and ultimately brought me closer to God. I was able to find happiness during such hard moments as I remembered the meaning of life—who I am and why I’m given such experiences.

Meaning of Life Taught during our Pre-Earth Life

Before we were born, we lived with God as His spirit sons and daughters. He presented to us His plan of happiness, which outlines the meaning of life. He offered us the opportunity to come to Earth, to get bodies, and to have experiences that could help us reach our potential as His children. Modern prophets teach us that “In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” 1995).

We don’t remember this part of our lives because that’s part of the test. One wouldn’t learn very much if a teacher told them exactly what was going to be on the final exam and they knew all the answers beforehand. We are living by faith and don’t remember our pre-earth life simply because God respects the right we have to make our own choices. I’m grateful that modern prophets and the scriptures teach me more about the meaning of life so that I can live by faith and choose for myself whether or not to return to God.

Meaning of Life: Happiness Achieved through Christ

Adam and Eve were the first children that God sent to the Earth. He told them to not eat from one tree (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) but knew that it was a necessary part of His plan of happiness for them to do so. Once they had eaten of the fruit, they were able to have children (allowing the rest of us to come to earth and also get bodies) and were able to experience joy and sorrow (2 Nephi 2:22–25). However, as a consequence of eating this fruit, they no longer had immortal bodies; they could die, and they were cast out from God’s presence for disobeying Him.

Fortunately, God prepared for the Fall of Adam and Eve, and it was all part of His plan. He sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth and offered us two gifts. The first one is a free gift to all; everyone will receive a perfect, resurrected body. This means that the body and spirit will never be separated again after death and the resurrection (Romans 6:9). The second is the marvelous gift of the Atonement and the choice to use that power to repent so that we might again return to God’s presence, but this gift depends upon whether or not we choose to accept it. Christ is the center of the plan of happiness, and we can only return to God’s presence because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for us.

After our earthly lives, our actions we will be judged as we stand before God. Those that lived good lives and chose to accept Christ as their Savior will have the opportunity to live with God again. My personal and favorite part about the plan of happiness is that I can also live with my family after this life. The meaning of life is simple: we were sent to this earth to be happy and to prepare to return to live with God again, progressing eternally. I can’t imagine the eternities without my loved ones and am forever grateful to my Savior for the opportunity that I may have to be with them after this life.

Additional Resources:

Mormon Beliefs

Jesus Christ in Mormonism 

More about Life before Life

Rebecca Bishop is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormon” woman). She is in the process of being published in the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.

By Mei Ding Goh.

As I began to write down my thoughts for this article, as I began to type something on my computer,  I could feel my chair was shaking, my instinct told me “earthquake”. I was really scared, immediately I knelt down and prayed, “Heavenly father, please forgive us of our sins, please release your grace and mercy, help us soften our hearts, help us repent”. And I was amazed, how great thou art, what a perfect timing to prepare for this topic “mortality is a probationary time to enable man to repent and serve God.”

I recalled a time, while I was walking to the market, I saw a little kitten, and it curled around its little brother. Its brother was dead, probably hit by a car. I could feel its grief; my heart was breaking, and I stood beside it and prayed for it, “Heavenly father, please comfort this little kitten.” The kitten reminded me of my late sister who passed on few years ago due to cancer. The earthquake and the tiny kitten reminded me of how easily we take life for granted, live as though we still have endless days to come. Must we have the natural disaster or tragedy to awaken us and make us realize who we really are and what our true life’s purpose is?

If I stretch this beautiful ribbon from one wall of my room to the other wall, if this ribbon represents the line of our lives and that one end of this ribbon represents our past and other our future. This ribbon will actually extend far beyond the walls of this room and continue forever in both directions. We cannot see anything beyond these two walls. We do not know what happened to us before we were born; we have no idea where we are going after our physical death. What shall we do? Who and where and how shall we seek help and guidance?  These are actually golden questions that lead people to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes nicknamed the Mormon Church).  Once baptized, they begin to understand the concepts of faith and forgiveness, and how they pertain to our eternal existence, which had no beginning, and which will have no end.

There are laws of nature we cannot change.  Consider an ice cream cone. Regardless of who and what we are, we all know it will melt if the room temperature is above freezing. We do not decide its condition. Who determines this? Alma, a Book of Mormon prophet, wrote,

“All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things are upon the face of it, year, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which moves in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme creator (Alma 30:44).

God is not only our Creator and our Ruler; he is also our Heavenly Father.

When we play a computer game, we need to learn and follow the rules of the game. We won’t argue with the rules since that won’t help us win the game. We are merely the players, not the programmer. In mortality, God is the ultimate creator and also the ultimate ruler. If we use a computer game as metaphor, then in order to win this game, we need to be wise and learn and obey the rules of the creator.

We are truly blessed to have scriptures as our guide, to teach us how to win this game. The scriptures are a source of revelations. They reveal Heavenly Father’s teachings for His children. From them we can learn enough about who we are, what is the purpose of this life and get our bearings and get direction in our lives.

As in Alma 42:4…

”And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.”

So we now have the right perspective. From it, we know that all things, all events, and all people provide us the opportunity to repent and to serve God. So just like playing computer games, though we focus on the things in the game, yet our main intention is to win. In this life, we don’t just focus on the things, events or people and judge them, this is not our job. The programmer or the creator already has the rules for them. The creator will judge them. Our job is to repent, to serve God.

For example, if someone says something offensive to us, we don’t focus on that person and judge how bad he or she is or spread bad things about him or her. We pray and ask our Lord, what would you have me learn? We ask ourselves have I in any way behaved like him or her. If so, we can admit our fault and apologize for it and forsake it. Not only that, if we wish that person would say something nice to us, probably it is time for us to start saying something nice. The negative experience can now help us to repent and be aware and change.

So now we can turn every encounter into a holy encounter, not because the encounter itself is holy, but the way we perceive it, the way we use it, makes it holy. And this answers the question “If God is love, why is there so much pain, so much suffering in this world?” For our heavenly father knows every element of who we are; He knows our minds, our hearts, and our souls. He will use different levels of “games” tailored to our unique characteristics to help us. For he loves us so much, he simply won’t compromise who we really are, because we are His children.

When we repent and learn to be more and more like Him, we are more available for Him so we can serve people using his power and his wisdom. Although we may do the same things, that  action contains two possibilities— one is to glorify God, the other, is to glorify one’s own self. And the difference lies in our heart, our intention. To repent can also mean we learn to surrender our will to our Lord’s will.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus speaks to the disciples in Mark 8:34-35 and tells them…

“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

It is too bad that we are so selfish and all that we want is what we think we are entitled to, and we forget that when we have all, we are at risk of losing it all at some point. Jesus continued and says in verse 36,

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

This is where as human beings we stand – we want it all. The many options that we see out there that we thought could help us solve our problems could well be the very things that entice us and bind us.

Jesus says clearly that…

“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also (John 14:6-7).

Jesus is the way to the solutions of our problems: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Repentance of our own sins is useless if we don’t forgive others.  Unforgiveness stops our progress.  We can move nowhere, especially not closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The following story comes from a conference address given by Mormon Apostle Boyd K. Packer at the April 2011 general conference:

My life was changed by a saintly patriarch. He married his sweetheart. They were deeply in love, and soon she was expecting their first child. The night the baby was born, there were complications. The only doctor was somewhere in the countryside tending to the sick. After many hours of labor, the condition of the mother-to-be became desperate. Finally, the doctor was located. In the emergency, he acted quickly and soon the baby was born, and the crisis, it appeared, was over. But some days later, the young mother died from the very infection that the doctor had been treating at another home that night. The young man’s world was shattered. As the weeks wore on, his grief festered. He thought of little else, and in his bitterness he became threatening. Today, no doubt, he would have been pressed to file a malpractice suit, as though money would solve anything. One night a knock came at his door. A little girl said simply, “Daddy wants you to come over. He wants to talk to you.”

“Daddy” was the stake president. The counsel from that wise leader was simply “John, leave it alone. Nothing you do about it will bring her back. Anything you do will make it worse. John, leave it alone.”

This had been my friend’s trial. How could he leave it alone? A terrible wrong had been committed. He struggled to get hold of himself and finally determined that he should be obedient and follow the counsel of that wise stake president. He would leave it alone.

He said, “I was an old man before I understood and could finally see a poor country doctor—overworked, underpaid, run ragged from patient to patient, with little medicine, no hospital, few instruments, struggling to save lives, and succeeding for the most part. He had come in a moment of crisis, when two lives hung in the balance, and had acted without delay. I finally understood!” He said, “I would have ruined my life and the lives of others.” Many times he had thanked the Lord on his knees for a wise priesthood leader who counseled simply, “John, leave it alone.”

Around us we see members of the Lord’s Church who have become offended. Some take offense at incidents in the history of the Church or its leaders and suffer their whole lives, unable to get past the mistakes of others. They do not leave it alone. They fall into inactivity.

That attitude is somewhat like a man being hit by a club. Offended, he takes up a club and beats himself over the head with it all the days of his life. How foolish! How sad! That kind of revenge is self-inflicting. If you have been offended, forgive, forget it, and leave it alone.

If you are carrying some burden, forget it, let it alone. Do a lot of forgiving and repenting, and you will be visited by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost and confirmed by a testimony, the possible strength of which you had never guessed. You will be watched over and blessed—you and yours. Of this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mei Ding Goh is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She is a seminary teacher in the Malaysia Ipoh District and a member of the Penang Branch.

Additional Resources:

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

The Holy Bible in Mormonism

Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons

Our Search for Happiness

I was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have been taught its principles from birth. Being labelled a “Mormon” has never bothered me, but I understand why Church leaders are urging us to use the full name of the Church: we want people to know from the start that we worship Jesus Christ as our Savior. I recognize that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God, that He is the Messiah and Redeemer of the world. I know that He took upon Himself the sins and sorrows of mortality that we may have the opportunity to repent. I know He gave His life for us that we could live again after mortality. Because I have received my own personal witnesses of many eternal truths, I also know the principle of tithing is God given.

Latter-day Saints (frequently misnamed “Mormons“) believe in the principle of tithing which is spoken of in the Old Testament, when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. This means that faithful members pay 10 percent of their annual increase to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This money is not used to pay clergy, who all volunteer their time, but is used to further the kingdom of God on the earth. Tithing, as all other commandments, works on the principle of faith. Does the Lord really need my 10 percent? No. But I gain blessings and increase in faith and obedience when I pay my tithing. The Lord has so many blessings He wants to give us. However, all blessings are predicated upon obedience to God’s laws (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20–21), so in order to gain certain blessings, I must first be obedient.

In the Book of Mormon, a wonderful prophet named Benjamin taught that God blesses us with so many things, and all He asks in return is obedience. Yet, if we serve Him with our whole beings, we are still “unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:21). God does not gain anything from our obedience, but we do. I have heard many stories from people throughout my life of miraculous things occurring when they paid their tithing. I must say that I have never personally had one of these experiences, though I have always paid my tithing very faithfully. Does this mean that I don’t believe I am being blessed for paying my tithing? Quite the opposite.

I grew up the youngest child in a large family. My parents never had money. They lived month to month, struggling to make ends meet. They were not frivolous by any means, but the economy was rough, and they had a lot of mouths to feed. Was tithing a struggle for them? Well, it depends on your perspective. My mother has the faith of the widow who gave her last mites. She is absolutely obedient, never doubting. Financially, yes, tithing was a struggle to pay. With the eternal perspective of faith and obedience, no, it was never a tough choice. In fact, it was never much of a choice at all. My father, by his own admission, does not have the same faith my mother has (few do). She would not have told these many stories, because that is not who she is. He is a talker and an admirer of her faith, and he has seen the blessing that continually poured forth as a result of her faith.

Countless times I have heard stories of how my family was blessed because of her faith and obedience. My dad had a truck that was broken down, and they didn’t have the money to fix it or to even have it towed. The same day they had paid tithing when they couldn’t afford it (after the truck being stranded for weeks), a man stopped by offering to buy the truck and move it himself. Another time the washer broke. As my dad points out, with so many kids still in diapers and my mom using cloth diapers, having a washer was not a luxury; it was a necessity. Again, after paying tithing, they came home to find a washer on the front porch with a box of detergent on top and an envelope with cash in it. Yet another time, my mom used the last of the cash to pay a fast offering, and more money came in miraculously. My dad mentioned another time that our garden (which went a long way to feeding the family) was being overrun by gophers. After my parents faithfully paid tithing, the gophers left our garden alone, giving a very literal meaning to my father ever after of the scripture in Malachi 3:10–11 (emphasis added):

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

I may not have had my own personal experiences strengthening my testimony of paying tithing. I have not had a check miraculously come in that was exactly the amount I needed to cover rent, or a car repair bill, etc. I have learned from the words and actions of my parents and those around me that this is a very real principle, and I have never had a second thought about paying my own tithing. I feel I have been blessed in return by always having sufficient funds to cover my expenses. I also live within my means, so I am blessed for that as well, but I definitely recognize the hand of the Lord in my life as I am obedient to His commandments, and I feel even more blessed than I was before.

Written by Richard Childs, a BYU student, studying a volume of scripture known as the Pearl of Great Price, which is written by prophets; members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “Mormons” revere it as sacred text. This post comes from a book within the Pearl of Great Price known as The Book of Moses; it is an extraction from the translation of the Bible as revealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet, June 1830—February 1831.

God the Father Loves Us All

In the Pearl of Great Price (a book of scripture, revered as sacred text by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “Mormons”) and in the first chapter of Moses, Moses saw God the Father and he learned two very important things.

That God was his father, and that His work and glory are to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. From Moses’ experience we also learn that the Father has a physical body, just like we do, or rather we have a body just like His. This knowledge of the nature of God is evidence that he is our father. We as His children resemble Him, just as a puppy resembles a dog, or a kitten a cat. Moses was taught that God’s work and glory is the salvation of men. The knowledge that God is our father and that his whole work and glory is to bring about man’s happiness brings me comfort and peace. From Moses’ experience I have learned that God the Father loves us, that when I pray to the God I am praying to my Father in Heaven, an eternal being who doesn’t just love me but loves me like a son. With this knowledge I have prayed more seriously, and sought to get to know my Eternal Father, as any son would try to get to know his dad. Moses’ visitation by our Heavenly Father testifies of our divine nature. Understanding our divine nature has not only affected my relationship with God it has affected my relations with everyone. We are all children of God and as such have great value to Him. I have often taken for granted the knowledge that he loves everyone when I become frustrated with others. When I remember that we are all creations of God the Father and that he loves us all, I am filled with a new respect and love for all those around me.

Additional Resources:

Meet with Mormon Missionaries.

Mormons believe Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer. Read a Mormon’s testimony of this truth.

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, comparable to the Bible, request a free copy today.

Sister Elaine Dalton, General President of the Young Women Organization for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, participatee in a live chat on February 23, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. EST. The Young Women Organization is for young women ages 12–18, but the chat was for any interested parties. Sister Dalton was available to answer any questions posed to her. She was visible from her webcam and answered questions by chat. The session took place on the Voices for Virtue Facebook page.

Voices for Virtue is a non-profit organization which is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but which uses social networking to reach teens and young adults who are striving to live virtuous lives.

This was the first event of its kind for any leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and provided a unique opportunity for people to ask questions they may otherwise have felt uncomfortable asking.

While no rights existed for recording or rebroadcasting this event, if you are interested in learning more about Elaine Dalton and Voices for Virtue, please see the links below:

Interview with Elaine Dalton

Talks and Speeches by Elaine Dalton

Voices for Virtue

The following is an email sent by Aragon, a dentist, to his parents. Aragon served in the Sydney Australia Vietnamese speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then attended University of California at San Francisco dental school. During his senior year he traveled to the Philippines to serve with “Kids International Dental Service.”

Hi family,

I just wanted to give a trip report for the past two weeks that I have been in the Philippines; apparently some of you…did not even know I was over there.

The trip was very special for me and reminded me of some of the feelings I had had when I was much younger as a missionary. As a missionary you are able to feel the peace that comes from focusing on others’ needs as opposed to just your own. It was during that time as a missionary that I knew I wanted to integrate such a lifestyle into the rest of my life.

The first summer back from my mission I spent four months in Vietnam, one day I was eating lunch at a café, and I started talking to a person that was sharing the table with me. I told him how I really wanted to help out with the poverty I saw around me but I did not know how. I remember him telling me that if I really wanted to help that I would need to go back to America to gain a skill first, then I really would have something to offer.

Over the next eight years I have been putting a lot of time into gaining that skill that I could offer others. I think during that time I have been so focused on myself and what I needed to do that I kind of forgot some of the reasons that I was doing all of this school work anyway. I was starting to think that getting a dental degree would enable me more personal attainment and thus more personal happiness. I had somewhat forgotten that a dental degree would enable me more ability to serve others, and in the focus of serving others I could once again experience the peace I had while a missionary. I hardly blame myself for forgetting; eight years of pursuing education trying to make grades, padding your transcript for recommendation letters and instructor brown-nosing will make anybody become a little self-centered.

The Lord blessed me to remember during this trip. I can remember particularly a 12 year old girl where I was overcome with godlike empathy. I had to extract most of (rotten to the gum-line) the adult teeth in a 12 year old girl. Can you imagine that? A girl not even a teenager yet who would have to go through her dating years with no front teeth and missing many of her back teeth? It was very difficult for me emotionally. Even though I was taking her out of pain my removing the rotten teeth, I felt as though I had failed her because I was not able to intervene sooner when the problem was small and I could have saved her teeth. But as difficult as it was, it was so peaceful to spend my waking moments during the day to figure out how I could set goals in life on how I could prevent this for other people.

Prayers during the trip became so much more powerful. It is one thing to pray to God to help you pass tests and such, and I am sure I have been blessed in that regard. The veil truly became thin when I was praying for God to bless my hands because I wanted so much to help these children with dental problems that I felt my skills were inadequate to treat.

I felt the power of these words in my patriarchal blessing on this trip: “You loved your spiritual brothers and sisters with all your heart and the Spirit of Charity is beginning to blossom within your soul at this time”

It is true that I do not have to go to the Philippines to focus and serve those around me, but perhaps I needed to see the shocking state of oral health over there to remind me and teach me things. I am looking forward to setting new goals in my life and I hope these memories will always be fresh with me.

Love, Aragon

My husband and I joined the church in 2004. I truly don’t know how we made it through life before joining. Our daughter married an inactive member in 2002. My son in-law’s father gave her a BOM. She called the missionaries and later was baptized. She sent the missionaries to us and well you know the rest. I know with all my heart that this is the true church and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It took a while to gain a testimony, but if you read your scriptures and continue to go church and pray i testify to you it will grow, mine has. I am so very thankful for the temple and what it gives to me and how I always feel the presence of HF, JC and the Spirit there. We were sealed together as man and wife and then sealed to our daughter in 2006. Tanya

When I visit the temple, I…don’t want to leave. When we visited the Nauvoo temple last year, I felt the spirit so strongly, I feel Christ and HF when we visit the temple. convert of four years Tanya

Faith only comes after sweat. Faith comes from action. Believing in something relies on action.

President Brigham Young said that inspiration only comes after sweat. This means that we must strive to excel in our work. Thus, when we do our best in our callings, our faith grows. Faith really is a seed. It grows well when it has appropriate nutrients. These nutrients are our efforts.
Our first effort must be to strive to know and love our Heavenly Father.
The Lord is saying “you already know me.” God does not change whether we love Him or not. But there is a change in us. This change is to be purified and to be born again.

D&C 88:63 says:
“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you “
This is the way. When filled with God’s love, we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand.

A few years ago, when I was a young missionary, I served in a small country. It was a great opportunity for me because the place I usually lived in was a huge city. Because it was so small, there wasn’t even any sister missionaries in my area, so there were few investigators. Also, my mission had a special rule that elders couldn’t teach woman and sisters could not teach man. For this reason, I and my companion had special permission to teach women. However, we discussed it and decided not to teach sisters. Sometimes missionary can have temptations about girls and we didn’t want to make trouble and wanted to work hard. So we decided to proselyte to only men.

We worked really hard. We ran every day. We did do our best every single day. I remember that every night before I fall sleep, I pray to God with a tired body. “Father, I did do my best today just like yesterday. I love you. I want to work harder than today by showing my love tomorrow.”

I taught English twice a week at the church. Because I really didn’t have time to have dinner, I went to the bread store which is right next to the church. There was a young woman who worked at the store.

One night, as I lay down after my prayer just like the other day, I felt strongly to talk to that young woman about the church. I thought “hmm, This must be some kind of strong temptation. However, I will not be tempted. I will stay worthy for 2 years!’ and I fell asleep.

The next morning, when I prayed to open the day, I felt same feeling. I thought again it must be a really strong temptation. I got the feeling a third time when I read Book of Mormon in the morning. So my companion and I discussed this. And we decided to go to meet to her and try to share the gospel.

Because I had never experienced proselyting to a girl, I was shy and afraid. But I got up courage to talk to her.
‘We are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We want to introduce the good news that the God who loves you wants you to know Him.’
I was surprised at her response. She said,
‘I’ve been waiting.’
When she was 13 years old, she had had a discussion with sister missionaries. But her family had moved away. Even though she was not a member, she remembered the black name tag.
She recognized the missionaries but she couldn’t talk to them. And nobody introduced the gospel to her. I made an appointment to meet the next day at the church.
The next day, I heard some surprising news from her. The day we talked to her was her last day to work at that place. Also, she had planned to move away a week later. But she delayed her moving for her baptism. Isn’t it surprising? This is our faith. This is the Lord’s work.
After I returned from my mission, I became a MTC teacher in Korea. I taught gospel to missionaries who would serve in Korea. I had the privilege to teach one sister missionary who was baptized by me. Can you guess who she was? It was her: the same girl we taught in that little area. A few months ago, I heard she returned with honor.
I have learned some interesting things from this experience.
1. I would not have had inspiration if I didn’t work hard like I did.
2. I felt the inspiration several times, specifically when I prayed and read scriptures.
3. The 3 inspirations were not voices, but they were small and silent feelings.
Blessings require effort and sacrifice.
Prayer fulfills our sacrifices. It results in miracles. Miracles bring conviction. Conviction strengthens our faith.
Brothers and sisters, the time to serve a calling is limited. And time is passing very quickly.
I pray that we will live worthily and work hard to strengthen our faith and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I have no doubt that our church is being led by a man who has direct contact with our Heavenly Father. That man is our current President – Thomas S. Monson. We have been led continually by such men who have always had this contact with our Heavenly Father from the time the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith. We are able to read President Monson’s words in the Church News and the Ensign. We are also able to hear his words twice yearly at our Semi-Annual General Church Conference held at Church Conference Center in Salt Lake City, UT. To me it is such wonderful comfort to know as long as we follow his advice we CANNOT go wrong.

To be able to return to my Heavenly Father and to see my mother and father again is the goal I am currently working towards. I have been a member all of my life but even so I know I need to be constantly vigilant to attain that goal. President Monson is my guide along with the Scriptures and weekly church attendance. Without those things I would truly be totally lost.

An Angel appearing to a 14-year old boy, I know, is difficult to comprehend. But the fact that the church he started is thriving nearly 180 years later with 13 million members is proof that is exactly what happened. Others have attempted to start “churches” or “church groups” but have dwindled.

What a thrill it is to be part of such a wonderful organization. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I receive so very much by just being a member. By being a teacher I find I am receiving even more blessings. But where much is given much is expected. Life for me has had its difficult times but my Heavenly Father seems to always be there to help me get through them. I pray you may also find Him and let Him lead you through your problems and to investigating this Church that was started by a 14-year old boy and an Angel sent by God.

Diane Carlin
10 July 2008