We live in the greatest time period. And we have the greatest work to do.
This was taken from the balcony of a family we visited this week.
Did you watch the living Prophets and Apostles speak to the entire world last week?
I hope you treasure and listened to all their words! Your life will change if you do! And if you act on their inspired direction, you will.
Here, we had to wait a week for it to reach us.
Read this talk from an Apostle:
Before Your Birth
I have seen my Redeemer. I know that each of us lived with God before we came to this earth. I have a sure and perfect knowledge that this is true. The Holy Ghost has borne that witness to me, 100,000 times, and continues to whenever I learn of my Father's plan and share it, He testifies of it.
We are eternal beings. We lived as intelligent spirits before this mortal life. We are now living part of eternity. Our mortal birth was not the beginning; death, which faces all of us, is not the end.
“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting.
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.”
—William Wordsworth“Intimations of Immortality”
As eternal beings, we each have in us a spark of divinity.
Life Is Eternal
By the Prophet, Ezra Taft Benson.
You have seen your Redeemer.
So many people say that they have never seen God. This is not true, of any of them. You have seen Him, and I testify your spirit knows Him. Nothing will surprise you more when you return to your home beyond the veil of death, than how familiar and sweet your Father's face already is to you from the pre-earth existence.
I can testify in very deed that I have seen the living God. And I am bold to declare it, as any man may if he will have eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to feel.
I have lived 19 years of every prayer I've ever prayed, being addressed and replied to. I have seen Him work a miracle every day of my life. I have felt His literal presence in His Holy Temples. I have felt His arms around me. I have witnessed His voice speaking to my soul, and I have seen His hand in every minute of my mission, such that never can I dare deny it, as long as I shall ever be.
He lives!
http://www.mormon.org/easter
Watching that video, what did you feel?
I felt chills surging my body; chills of joy!
I am His witness as surely and unequivocally as if I had seen Him every day of my life--for indeed I have.
I have not just seen His hand every day in my life. His hand is my life.
After 19 years of every prayer answered and reflecting on and seeking how His hand was unveiled to me that day; every day, there is nowhere I can look even if I try, where I don't only and fully see His kind, comforting, blessing, good hand and sweet smiling face. It is like real sunshine to my life.
We don't come to earth to stop walking by sight as we did before our birth when we lived and progressed with Him. We come to walk by faith which is a better, more real, perfect, and truest sight by which all things of all existence and truth & the path to life eternal and exaltation are seen and traveled, triumphed by!
We come to Earth to see Him more clearly than even we did when we were personally with Him. Before coming to earth--before our birth--we saw Him. We come to earth to have a chance to Know Him.
Not just a chance to know Him;
But to become like Him.
This was one of the most powerful talks I've ever heard:
Best Easter Talk of All
This week, we were struggling with some of our investigators.
They were progressing, but there was contention and fighting in their home. A teenage daughter and her mother sometimes let their differences anger one another. Such was the case.
On Friday morning this week, we woke and read this quote:
“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.” ~Ezra Taft Benson
We discussed with each other (Elder Moka and I,) about how we could help them to sing hymns together and begin reading the Book of Mormon together. We saw all this as a huge challenge, for reasons I don't have time to give you detail about.
Well, that night, we felt distinctly impressed to drive out to see them even though it was getting very late.
We arrived, and when we walked in, they said, "Today, we were reading the Book of Mormon. I was reading to my mom, and explaining it to her in Hindi. We sang songs together and prayed together, and all our feelings of anger left. Even when my mom growls at me, I don't growl back."
We were astonished!!!!!!!
They will be baptized, weekend after next.
When they came to conference, they reported to our utter astonishment, that they are now all the way to Alma chapter 2! And they actually were!!!
They watched all of Conference even though they had soooo many trials and obstacles trying to stop them.
Oh.. did you catch that.. I said we drove^
We have a car!
I'm the driver!
Look which side the steering wheel is on!
All trials only purify us. NO trial is given to us to defeat us. "The easy road does not climb."
Missionaries are problem solvers. I have found that ALL excuses are lame--and making it work & results are ALLways awesome.
On April 10th, I wrote this in my journal:
"Today, my mission ends, and Heavenly Father's starts. Today my mission is over; I ran out of time, and time was never mine. Time for the things my way is done. All done. The mission is now ended--my motives, my way of doing it, and with that repulsive past finally dead, all is finally His. Today, my mission came to an end, and His started. My candle I blew out, and He and I installed anew His candle in me which is above the light and energy of the sun. From now on my mission soars with His flame!"
Time for Christ's name to consume mine. ALL the way.
I am progressing at rates I never imagined in the language and in being able to lead this area with Elder Moka. We are on our way to hitting the Standards of Excellence every week! It's looking amazing!
Obedience is FUN!
We are using our car to its full capacity. We are very grateful for the gift and we are using it non stop. We really needed this. We are finally able to reach our dozens and dozens of golden potential investigators. The Hindi program is absolutely flourishing and thriving. The people are flocking, and we are both really picking up on the language now!
I am now thinking in Hindi! I am praying in Hindi, teaching in Hindi, singing in Hindi, and devouring all the possible resources Heavenly Father has let come into our possession. I am ready to be used by the Lord to the utmost of His desires, and that fills me with pure joy!
The other day, people were asking me why I ALWAYS have a smile on my face and why I'm always ridiculously happy. "Why are you always happy?"
The Spirit gave me an answer immediately. I said, "Because I'm always a Mormon."
That's the answer at it's simplest.
^_^
I have powerful and fully reachable goals that Heavenly Father inspired me to set for the next 6 weeks. I have taken everything up 5 notches. I am stepping up my mission and taking it even more seriously. I won't let any morsel of my potential with Him to lift His children, slip by.
Always happy,
Eternal Missionary Elder Howard
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