Light Our Minds With Heaven's View

Hello all!  I hope you're having an awesome week thus far!

This week has been amazing.  You may have heard that we're in Rustenburg, but we're also a village called Phokeng!  We focus primarily on Rustenburg, but we often travel to Phokeng throughout our week.  Complete with dirt roads, fruit trees, and towering mountains, this corner of South Africa is a little slice of heaven.

This week, as we were traveling in Phokeng for an appointment, we had to slam on the brakes to avoid running over a kitten that had waddled into the middle of the road.  We quickly exited the car, ran to the wandering puss, and scooped it up in an attempt to save it from oncoming traffic.  After our daring rescue, we asked nearby homes whether or not the kitten belonged to them, but none claimed the poor creature.

So here we were, standing on the side of the road, cuddling a lost kitten no older than a month, with no idea of how to help our newfound friend.

We quickly traveled to the home of a nearby member, explained the situation, and ran off to buy a carton of milk for the poor little kitty as the member watched over it.  Together, with the help of the member's children, we managed to give the kitten some much needed nourishment.  We also discovered that it was a she!

The members happily agreed to look after Simba, the newly-named kitten, for the weekend until we could return on Monday and give Simba a home at the SCPA, a local animal shelter.  Elder Brumpton and I visited the members on Sunday after attending church, and I had the chance to hold Simba again.  By this point, Simba had become quite comfortable with me and she quickly snuggled up in my arms for an afternoon nap.  I've never been much of a cat guy, but I found that my heart was melting for this cute little fella.

This Monday morning we drove to the member's house to pick up Simba for the last time.  What we found shocked everyone: little Simba had passed on during the night.

After saying one last goodbye to our little friend, we began our journey back to Rustenburg.  While driving I caught myself pondering about life, in all its variety and shapes.  Like Christ of old, I have on occasion considered the birds and the lilies, and how God so graciously provides for them.  Yet, in crossing paths with little Simba, I've developed a even greater appreciation for the gift of life.  I'm grateful that I had the chance to know Simba and to provide a shelter for her as she entered into her rest.

As Simba has run her course, so will we all.  But we don't have to be uncertain of what lies ahead!  God has revealed his plan for our salvation.  From this Plan of Salvation, we discover that we lived with Heavenly Father before this life, that we came to Earth to inhabit a mortal body and to learn to apply the Atonement of Christ, and that we have the chance to inherent eternal life in the mansions eternity.  This knowledge is disclosed from billions of God's children upon the Earth. This is a reason why I'm serving as a missionary of God because, like tens of thousands of full-time missionaries like me, I desire for all to feel the deep peace that comes from this plan.  For those of us who have a knowledge of these things, we can take it a step higher.

Bonnie L. Oscarson once said of the truths of the gospel such as this plan,"We have a knowledge of these things, but do we believe them? If these things are true, then we have the greatest message of hope and help that the world has ever known. Believing them is a matter of eternal significance for us and for those we love.  To believe, we need to get the gospel from our heads into our hearts!"  To illustrate how one takes the gospel from the head to the heart, we need to go to the beginning of my missionary experience.

At the beginning of my mission, I learned how to testify of what I knew to be true in the restored gospel.  Yet, as the weeks continued and as I continued to testify to strangers about simple truths of eternity, I often found myself questioning if I really knew if all these things were true.  Yes, I had been raised to sing songs about following God's Plan of Salvation and to read the word of God since my earliest days, yet I was uncertain if I knew if I had a bone-deep conviction of it all.

One night, long after sleep had escaped from my mind, I knelt in prayer and expressed to my Father in Heaven that I believed everything to be true, yet desired a deep spiritual witness of its truthfulness from the Holy Ghost so that I could be more bold in declaring to others the truthfulness of the gospel.  Immediately after closing my prayer in the name of Christ, I heard a voice speaking to my heart.  The simple phrase it communicated to me transported everything I had ever learned about the gospel deep into the sinews of my being: "You know it's true."

And it is true. All along I had known that the truths taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was true.  All that was missing in my conversion was a witness from the Holy Ghost that it was the complete truth, perfect and without spot.  This experience redefined my testimony.  From that point onward, I have had no fear to testify of the gospel because I know, from a power beyond myself, that it is true.  In testifying to others of my witness of the gospel, I've discovered that a testimony of the restored gospel that is shared with others allows them the opportunity to feel for themselves the divine testimony of the gospel.  Yet a testimony from another isn't enough to gain a bone-deep conviction of the truth.

Bonnie L. Oscarson also said about conversion,"True conversion is a process that takes place over a period of time and involves a willingness to exercise faith.  It comes when we search the scriptures instead of the Internet. It comes when we are obedient to the commandments of God. Conversion comes when we serve those around us. It comes from earnest prayer, regular temple attendance, and faithful fulfillment of our God-given responsibilities. It takes consistency and daily effort."

Keolebogile (Lebo for short) is going through this process currently.  She's investigating the gospel at fifteen years old, and she is such an amazing girl!  When we first met her, we taught her about the Plan of Salvation.  She found so much joy in knowing where she came from before mortality, what her purpose was for living on Earth, and who she could return to live with after death.  Her desire to return to God had never been greater to that point.

This week we taught Lebo how she can gain a deep, abiding testimony of the Plan of Salvation and other truths in the restored gospel: by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.  After discussing with her this process, we asked her what she was feeling.  She sat in silence for a brief moment, analyzing how she felt.  Eventually she looked us in the eye and said, with simple conviction and quiet enthusiasm,"I need to know it's true."

She has accepted the invitation to read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon.  For if it is truly more of God's word revealed to man in these days, that means that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom upon the Earth, preparatory to his Second Coming.

Conversion isn't easy.  It requires daily, consistent effort.  But, after a period of time and an experiment of faith, it can be achieved.  I am converted every day to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know, with a power beyond myself, that it is true.  Let us all gain this conviction so that we can wake up with determination and go to be with peace and assurance, regardless of what may come our way.