Week 36 - Testimony

by Unknown 9:29 PM 0 comments

Although we've taught very few actual lessons this week, I want to tell you about a lesson that I did get to be apart of on scambio. The zone leaders, Anziano Pesci and Taylor, recently asked a member family in their ward to pray for a street where they could go do finding work at. The member family did so and the zone leaders were able to meet a lady interested in the gospel on this particular street! So, on scambio, Anziano Pesci and I went to the lady's house for the first appointment. Anziano Pesci was half expecting the address to be wrong or expecting her to be living alone (meaning she'd be handed over for the sisters to teach). Fortunately, Paula was home and so was her newly-wedded husband! It literally felt like a lesson from the movies (there's not really many movies about the Mormon missionaries... But, you get the idea). I don't have anything against teaching a Nigerian man on a park bench, but something was different as Anziano Pesci and I sat across from Paula and her husband at their kitchen table. When I bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the validity of the restoration, I was speaking more than words. I was feeling the spirit in a way I don't always feel it as I shared a part of my heart with them. I don't know what will become of Paula and her husband, but I'm really glad I got to be there to say and feel what I did.

I think I'm starting to realize what a testimony is. A testimony is not saying that you know the church is true in the fanciest way possible. A testimony is truly words from the heart... Words that were worked for. To obtain and retain a testimony, there is a certain level of sacrifice that needs to be payed. There are times here on my mission where "choosing the right" feels like a checklist item. Does it matter if a sleep in every once in a while? Does it matter if I don't come to personal study dressed in pajamas instead of missionary clothes? Does it matter if we come back to the apartment a little earlier after a long day of work? Sometimes, I really don't know! However, I know for a certainty that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and restored the church of Christ. I know that if I want to share this knowledge with power and conviction, I need to be putting in that effort even when it doesn't seem all that important.