Sunday, October 04, 2009
A Confession & A Declaration
A few weeks ago I stood in my favorite section of Goodwill. On the shelf I spotted the familiar blue spine of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it and I almost bought it, just to save it from the shelves of Goodwill. I was saddened as I thought of someone discarding the book that means so much to me. Instead, I pulled the book from the shelf and left it facing forward so some other shopper would be sure to see it. Just moments later, as I was leaving the book area a man who appeared to be in his 20's entered the book section and asked a Goodwill employee if they had any bibles. The employee directed him to the religious area of the book section and I watched as the man picked up the Book of Mormon and held it in his hands. He then placed it back on the shelf. I stood there with my hands gripping my cart, hoping for the courage to boldly proclaim, "read the book, it will change your life." Instead I froze and did nothing. After hearing Elder Holland's bold declaration today of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I wish I could go back in time and simply state the truth to one who was searching that the Book of Mormon is true. But since I can't I declare today that I know the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. It is the fulness of truth and my beacon in a world of confusion. I am inspired by Elder Holland's testimony and example to never let another opportunity pass to testify of what I know is true.
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6 comments:
Thank you for posting this! It gave me an answer!
Just yesterday we drove some "General Conference Cinnamon Rolls" over to our Violin teachers house. She and her husband are from Wuhan. She came out to the car all excited and said that they had invited "our" missionaries over to learn about the "Mormon book." My thought in the car on the way home was that I needed to take her the Simplified Chinese version of the Book of Mormon that I just purchased and tell her that I thought she might have an easier time studying it in Chinese! I WILL DO IT this morning!
Wasn't that talk incredible! Tana Wicker posted that she wanted to stand up and cheer! So did I!!
I know I would have done the same thing. The other day, I was in a downtown bookstore and a woman came in and asked someone who works there for "mormon books". The salesperson obviously needed her to clarify and she proceeded to rattle off titles like, "No man Knows My History" "The 19th Wife" and a couple of other skewed and anti mormon books. I so badly wanted to find her a copy of Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling, or, better yet, The Book of Mormon and say, "here, this is what you really should read if you're curious." But, I didn't.
Thanks for your testimony. Your convictions and testimony have always been a shining light to me.
I wonder if many of us don't have an "I wish I'd have stood up for/shared it" moments, Andrea. I'm glad you shared yours and like you, loved Elder Holland's talk. What power in saying "I know and I want you to know." It was a powerful example on testifying of truth. Thanks for this.
I did it Andrea! Thank you for the courage boost! She gave me a hug, told me that she loved me and said that having it in Chinese would help immensely!
I loved that talk too!
Good for you Anne. Do you have Amanda's email address? I am going to be in provo for the homecoming game and I wanted to try and see her. We aren't arriving in Utah until Saturday morning so I will miss her lunch and dinner on Friday.
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