Summer is here and I am sweating!

Holla Mi Familia!

This week has been a huge week of miracles. Oh my goodness. I feel I say that every week but it gets truer and truer. WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR COME TO CHURCH!!!!!!! So cool. I'll tell the story. We met this man named Gene. Later found out his name is Herby... anyway. He is this 6'4 Haitian. He is probably early 20's and has only been in the states less than a year. He is so cool. Well we got a member to take us to get him for church. On our way there I was freaking out because we forgot to tell him what to wear. We knocked on the door and he was all dressed in a white shirt and tie! Everything. He said "When I first went to church with the Jehovah's Witness they didn't tell me what to wear and I felt really bad!" Haha it was funny. He was so excited! He speaks Creole, French and English. We have a few members in our ward who speak French and the woman who came with us spoke it. When she started speaking it his face lit up and he was talking nonstop. It was the coolest thing! He had so many questions but said he would love to come back again next week! Well... I don't have much to say because I am so excited for tomorrow! We have zone conference! We were asked to prepare a talk in case we are called on. I'll share that. Love you all! Think back to the first time you read the entire Book of Mormon. Or even the first time you opened up the book. Or even as you have read the words written in the book.

The first time I read the Book of Mormon entirely was when I was 15. I completed it on October 31 2012. Halloween night. I remember the feelings I had. I was so excited that I had completed it. For the wrong reasons. My dad, 2 weeks earlier, had challenged the whole family to read the entire Book of Mormon before the end of the month. I was determined to do so and knew I could beat my siblings in the challenge. I read 30 plus chapters daily for 2 weeks. I was reading for hours. I finally finished 2 weeks later and was right. I was the only one who did it and had beat my siblings. However I gained nothing from it. I didn't know what I had read, I didn't know what any of it meant. I only had the intention of wining a competition. When I ran downstairs that Halloween night to tell my mom I had won. She looked at me and said, "Did you pray to see if the book was true?" I sat there in awe. Hadn't she heard me? Who cared about praying, I won! Then she told me, "Go back upstairs and pray." I was so disappointed. I spent 2 weeks reading this boring book and she didn't even applaud my efforts. I sulked back upstairs and knelt by my bed. Thinking, " I could just stay up here for a few minutes and go back down and say I prayed about it." But as I sat there I finally started to pray. In my prayer I realized that I hadn't read it for the right reason, that I didn't get anything out of it. Yet as I asked Heavenly Father if this book was true I felt a warmth come over me. I began to smile as I knew that was my answer. I ran back down stairs and told my mom I knew it was true. She smiled and said "Good. I do too!" After that I decided to read the Book of Mormon again. This time for the right reason. Since then I have read the Book of Mormon 5 more times. Each time I have started with a prayer and a desire to learn and find out once more if it is true. Each time I have received an answer through the Holy Ghost. It has changed my life completely. All for the better. In PMG on pg 93 it says "Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke of the power of the Spirit: True conversion comes through the power of the Spirit. When the Spirit touches the heart, hearts are changed. When individuals … feel the Spirit working with them, or when they see the evidence of the Lord’s love and mercy in their lives, they are edified and strengthened spiritually and their faith in Him increases. These experiences with the Spirit follow naturally when a person is willing to experiment upon the word. This is how we come to feel the gospel is true” The Holy Ghost has many different roles. In Moses 6:61 it lists a few of them. "Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment." We know that only through the Spirit we are to receive true conversion. Conversion to Jesus Christ. It is only through the spirit because the spirit is the convincing witness that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. In Moroni 10:5 it says "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." This is the wonderful power that the Holy Ghost has before we can even receive the companionship of it. The Holy Ghost is right there testifying to those who have not made the covenants necessary to understand what it is or have it be with them always. A lot of the time people think when they feel the Holy Ghost they are to feel a huge sensation and power surge within them. As we have read in the scriptures time and time again, that is not always the case and for most of the time not how it will happen. 3 Nephi 11:3 says "And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn." There is an investigator we have. She is amazing. She keeps all the commitments and is changing. Yet, she still feels like she hasn't received that answer this is true. We asked her if she has felt the Holy Ghost as she has prayed and read the Book of Mormon. She replied, no. We then asked her what she was expecting to feel. She told us she was expecting to have a sort of light come down and she would just know type thing. We explained how the Holy Ghost can work through her. Through feelings and thoughts and it isn't always a big reveal. She then said she hasn't really felt that but as she reads she has felt a peace and calmness. We were so excited! We told her that was the Holy Ghost. She seemed a bit surprised because it was so simple. If we truly open our hearts and minds we can receive that witness is true. We just have to be patient and listen to that still small voice. Or it can pass us by. When we read the Book of Mormon as stated in the introduction " to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost." We act in faith as we read. As we act in faith we are more open to the power of the Spirit. As we read we learn and as we learn the Holy Ghost has something he can testify of. The whole time I was reading the Book of Mormon for the first time, I wasn't learning. The Holy Ghost wasn't working through me. It was all just hallow. But as I really read that last promise that Moroni gives to "ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." I had something the Holy Ghost could work with. He was able to show me that what Moroni had written was true. And by that little truth I was able to know the whole book was true and have a desire to really understand what it was saying. By that desire I found the truth. I keep finding the truth. I am continually changing my view of God and becoming a better disciple of Christ. I find the Love of God as I read and pray. I find the comfort of the atonement and my love for my savior. " For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." Throughout all these scriptures they all talk about seeking and learning. Then the Holy Ghost will tell them it is true. We can't figure this out on our own. We needs the Spirits witness of it. We need that testimony. I know that as we read the Book of Mormon we will draw nearer to God and know that this is the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We will come to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God called to bring the Book of Mormon to us. I know it is the most correct or any book on earth. As we read we can feel the spirit work through us and testifying that is is of God. Let us share this with everyone we meet. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ♡ Sister Robison