Sermon on the Mount - SLC Version

Hello!! Crazy week over here in the Salt Lake Valley and Southwestern Wyoming. As I am writing this email, I have a crazy amount of joy. I don't know why honestly, but let me tell you one thing... The Book of Mormon IS true, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ does bring JOY to our lives as children of our loving Heavenly Father.

Wyoming!!!

Ice skating 

We got to go ice skating this last pday, and that was super fun. Elder Hernandez and I did lots of exchanges this week too. And Elder Petty, Elder Ely and I only got to do three hours of missionary work together the whole week lol. 

Long drive to WY

Elder Wright 

I got a picture with a deer! 

Lots of exchanges!!

Elder Hernandez and I drove up to Rock Springs, Wyoming to give some trainings and do exchanges with missionaries. We listened to a lot of the Book of Mormon, lots of BYU Speeches, and General Conference talks. 

Wyoming!!!

And man Wyoming is cool! Like rad...and COLD. Super cold. And very windy. So many nice people there tho, and that was very worth it. We saw a lot of success on exchanges and I got to learn a lot from the other missionaries. Oh and Wyoming had STARS! I hadn't seen stars in a long time, since I have been in the city and usually the smog is kinda bad and blocks the stars. 

Yesterday we had a pretty amazing opportunity. Myself, along with six other Elders met with and taught over 30 students and teachers of a Christian school. They were from Los Vegas and came to visit SLC. We met in the chapel and they were taught the Restoration, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and parts of the Plan of Salvation. I could write a lot about how the experience went but there were just a few things that really stuck out to me that I want to share:

- We have to be humble in order to learn 

- God is our Loving Heavenly Father and sent his Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior 

- The Holy Spirit teaches us and confirms eternal truths

- There is a difference between honesty seekers of truth, and people who have the spirit of contention

- Joseph Smith was a prophet of God

We were able to talk about the First Vision (when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and got an answer to his prayer) and talk about the importance of it. I felt the spirit real strong. I had to write it down so I wouldn't forget it. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It helps us draw closer to God. I know it.

Watch the video if you can:

Conversation of the week:

*knock knock knock*

Missionary: Hi. It's nice to meet you. What is your name? 

Lady: Billie. 

Missionary: Nice to meet you. We are the missionaries. We want to share a message about Jesus Christ. Is there a day we can come back? 

Lady: Sure!! Wednesday morning at 9:30am weeks for me.

Elder Ditto: *thinking to himself this is not possible and he is in a dream*

^This was so crazy. The missionary I was with didnt even teach anything or given her a good reason for us to come back, but she was so down for us to come back. Wyoming people are another breed lol. 

Elder Leon

Song of the Week:

- Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth (Hymn #298). This hymn was sung in sacrament meeting, and it really hit different. I don't know if I have ever listened to it closely before. But this time I finally did, and I loved it. 

Scripture of the Week:

- The Introduction to the Book of Mormon. This one page in the Book of Mormon has explained so many different things, and answers lots of the questions myself, and other people have about the Book. If you havent read it before, or it has been a while.

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel.

The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians.

The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after His resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.

After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the Hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language.

In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto Him and obey the laws and ordinances of His gospel may be saved.

Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” and “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses.”

We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, 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. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)

Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.

Love you all!!
- Elder Ditto