Letter #39 (August 17, 2009)

A miracle happened yesterday after church. We went to visit one of our investigators named Aaliyah. Her dad is a member of the Church. We haven't heard anything from them in a couple of weeks. We've called many times, but he hasn't returned our call. We've been dissapointed. So, we went to visit them but they weren't home. We then went to stop by a member in our ward that we know little about. When we went to his house, a very tall, maybe 6 foot 9-inch guy opened the door. We asked him if he was the member we were looking for. He said that he wasn't. He just moved into that house 2-3 months ago. We introduced ourselves as missionaries for the Church. He asked us to come into his home. He was nice, confident, and very smart. He's attending UNC getting his MBA. He has 2 kids with one more on the way. We taught him for nearly an hour and a half. He had some great, sincere questions. He knew the bible well. He asked why is there a need for the Book of Mormon. He asked if there was an apostasy, why did the apostles fail at maintaining Christ pure Church, while we have modern prophets and apostles who were able to keep the Church going. It was an intense lesson. We answered many more of his questions to the best of our abilities with prayers in our hearts, being led by the Spirit in what we should say. I was definately out of my comfort zone many times, but the Spirit of the Lord was with us. We have Jeremy's number and we're going to set up a time to teach him again when he knows what his schedule is for the following week.

I don't know the answers to all things. But I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. He has answered thousands of my prayers. I've seen hundreds of miracles. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior because His gospel is true. I have felt the redeeming power of His sacrifice when I was baptized for a remission of my sins. I've felt the enabling power of His atonement by the way I've been able to overcome trials, and my burdens have been lightened. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet called of God because I've prayed about the Book of Mormon and received my answer by the power of the Holy Ghost. I have exercised the Priesthood he restored as I blessed the sick and the afflicted and made them whole through the grace of God. The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ here on earth. I bear you my witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.