Hello everyone,
It was a wonderful week! Richard was baptized and he has been such a humble and penitent seeker of truth and light and it"s been a beautiful experience to be apart of and witness. He was baptized on Saturday and had a great turnout and so much support and it was particularly fun because it just happened to work out that there was a YSA dinner and dance which took place immediately following the baptism and he had a great time there as well being around so many supportive members who have become such good friends to him over the last several months. On Sunday he was confirmed as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and received the Holy Ghost and was then, later in Priesthood, conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained to the office of a Priest. After that he was interviewed again by Bishop Black and received a temple recommend and was extended a calling to be a ward missionary. We have talked with our ward mission leader and him and the ward missionaries and will all be making a trip to the temple to do baptisms for the dead on March 25 together and he will have his own family names to take.
We met with him again this last Tuesday to talk about the restoration of Christ's church.-We had originally planned to pose several questions in regards to the restoration, watch the Restoration DVD and then have him answer those questions and we would conclude by inquiring of his conversion up to this point and inviting him to continue reading the Book of Mormon and to pray for opportunities to share something he learns from his studies with his family, friends, or someone of happen stance. Well, we came to discover that he had already seen that video 4 or 5 times previously so we certainly weren't going to watch that one again! We were just going to abandon the idea of watching anything at all but after we talked about the questions and he shared, with power, sincerity and love his conversion story thus far, we felt prompted to watch "Treasure in Heaven: The John Tanner Story" and as we watched it we felt so strongly to invite him to pray to Heavenly Father and inquire if he should serve a full time mission. He was giddy in accepting the invitation. Neither of us had thought once about the possibility that he could serve a mission or about inviting him to find out if that is something he should do but we were so grateful for the promptings of the Lord through His marvelous Spirit and for the power and joy that we were all able to feel as this discussion was so led by the Holy Ghost. He told us then of his call to be a ward missionary and how he thinks that could be one of the ways that Heavenly Father will respond to his humble prayer.
The Church is true, it is Christ the Lord's and he guides it through a prophet and on the earth today, who is Thomas Monson and also the apostles. The Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God, as is the Bible which I have a deep and abiding testimony of also. God hears and answers prayers and of that I am the beneficiary and a witness.
Keep the Faith,
Elder Ricks
It was a wonderful week! Richard was baptized and he has been such a humble and penitent seeker of truth and light and it"s been a beautiful experience to be apart of and witness. He was baptized on Saturday and had a great turnout and so much support and it was particularly fun because it just happened to work out that there was a YSA dinner and dance which took place immediately following the baptism and he had a great time there as well being around so many supportive members who have become such good friends to him over the last several months. On Sunday he was confirmed as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and received the Holy Ghost and was then, later in Priesthood, conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained to the office of a Priest. After that he was interviewed again by Bishop Black and received a temple recommend and was extended a calling to be a ward missionary. We have talked with our ward mission leader and him and the ward missionaries and will all be making a trip to the temple to do baptisms for the dead on March 25 together and he will have his own family names to take.
We met with him again this last Tuesday to talk about the restoration of Christ's church.-We had originally planned to pose several questions in regards to the restoration, watch the Restoration DVD and then have him answer those questions and we would conclude by inquiring of his conversion up to this point and inviting him to continue reading the Book of Mormon and to pray for opportunities to share something he learns from his studies with his family, friends, or someone of happen stance. Well, we came to discover that he had already seen that video 4 or 5 times previously so we certainly weren't going to watch that one again! We were just going to abandon the idea of watching anything at all but after we talked about the questions and he shared, with power, sincerity and love his conversion story thus far, we felt prompted to watch "Treasure in Heaven: The John Tanner Story" and as we watched it we felt so strongly to invite him to pray to Heavenly Father and inquire if he should serve a full time mission. He was giddy in accepting the invitation. Neither of us had thought once about the possibility that he could serve a mission or about inviting him to find out if that is something he should do but we were so grateful for the promptings of the Lord through His marvelous Spirit and for the power and joy that we were all able to feel as this discussion was so led by the Holy Ghost. He told us then of his call to be a ward missionary and how he thinks that could be one of the ways that Heavenly Father will respond to his humble prayer.
The Church is true, it is Christ the Lord's and he guides it through a prophet and on the earth today, who is Thomas Monson and also the apostles. The Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God, as is the Bible which I have a deep and abiding testimony of also. God hears and answers prayers and of that I am the beneficiary and a witness.
Keep the Faith,
Elder Ricks
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