Week 98 - "Through Fields of Heavenly Flowers"

 Hello everyone,

The main thing that has been on my mind this week is the passing of my Grandma, JeNeal Wride. She had been in the hospital for a little while and passed away on Saturday morning. It's weird as a Missionary because nothing from home really feels real—it all feel like a dream. But I miss her a lot and my thoughts and prayers are with the family. I decided to include the obituary here as well

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JeNeal Curtis Wride passed away in her sleep July 22, 2023. She was the oldest of two daughters born to Reid Franklin and Trelma Elvira Hain Curtis. JeNeal is survived by her husband, Wayne, and her children Nancy Wride (Jeremy Cloward), Mark Wride (Chalane Casdorph), and Corey Wride (Tiffanie Hibbert), and eighteen grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Sharon Kay Curtis Stoker, and her brother-in-law Ronald John Stoker.

JeNeal was a strong and tenacious woman who didn’t let anything keep her from living the full and rich life she desired. At the age of thirteen she lost the use of her legs due to polio. Navigating life with the aid of full-leg braces and crutches, JeNeal graduated college, gave birth to and raised three children, taught high school, and junior high for twenty years. She also served over twenty years in the Primary organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She never thought of herself as handicapped, and she did not like the idea that others saw her as such.

JeNeal married Wayne Prior Wride August 14, 1964, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. The couple grew up in Payson and graduated high school a year apart. Their relationship developed while they were both employed at the Payson Huish Theater. After JeNeal graduated from BYU with a degree in secondary education she became a member of the first faculty of Skyline High School in 1962. After Wayne completed college he and JeNeal settled in East Millcreek where they built a life and reared a family founded upon the gospel, love, commitment, and hard work.

Sewing and doing crafts of all kinds were chief among JeNeal’s talents and loves in life. If it was creative, she could do it. When her children were younger, she designed and sewed jumpsuits for them. She sewed much of her own clothing. In order to always have gifts on-hand for newborns, she made crochet-edged receiving blankets in her spare time. For each day of the annual “Wride family vacation” week in Park City she prepared for and hosted a crafting hour for the grandchildren.

Other loves of JeNeal’s included: shopping--especially finding a good bargain, dark chocolate, playing “5000” with her children and grandchildren, traveling, shopping, collecting and trying out new recipes, family photos, decorating her home for every holiday/season, more shopping, solving Sudoku puzzles, sushi, the annual family vacation week in Park City, and shopping for great bargains! She did not love wet floors, snowy sidewalks, cats, missing a good bargain, or August heat.

Although she was not a boy scout, JeNeal adhered to the motto “Be Prepared”. At any given moment, she could locate in her purse just about anything one might need in an emergency: Band-Aid, scissors, paring knife, paper clip, cough drops, aspirin, plastic baggie, dice, and a host of other handy “stuff”.

Mostly, JeNeal loved anything that revolved around her family; anything that drew them closer to her and Wayne, and closer together. One way the couple did this was by seizing every opportunity to travel together. When the kids were younger, the family enjoyed road trips, going camping, and visiting Disneyland. In later years Wayne and JeNeal often hosted the kids and grandkids at their Marriott timeshare vacation villas in Southern California, visiting Disneyland on several occasions. They took the family to tour New Zealand (and Australia), Chile (and Argentina) after picking up their sons upon completion of their missionary service. They were fortunate to have traveled several times to Hawaii and twice to Europe. In 2008 they treated their children and grandchildren to a Mexican Riviera cruise.

During the last couple of decades, as post-polio syndrome set in and she could no longer boost herself up in order to stand with crutches, JeNeal did not slow her pace in supporting her children and grandchildren. Equipped with a three-wheel mobility scooter, JeNeal faithfully attended their many academic, sporting, church, and musical events, always rewarding their accomplishments with a bag of candy and cash.

Above the love she had for her family was the love JeNeal had for the Lord. At the time of her passing she and Wayne were serving as Church Service Missionaries in the Welfare Square Employment Office, a calling they had held for over thirteen years. She leaves a legacy of love and service. Until we see her again in the Lord’s presence, we will miss her deeply and look forward to the time when we will embrace each other and run with her through fields of heavenly flowers.

An evening viewing will be held from 6pm-8pm, Wednesday July 26th at The Olympus Stake Center, 2675 East 4430 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124

A viewing prior to the funeral service will be from 10am-10:45am, Thursday July 27th at The Olympus Stake Center, 2675 East 4430 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124

The funeral service will be held at 11am Thursday July 27th at The Olympus Stake Center, 2675 East 4430 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124

The Interment will follow the funeral service at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 South Highland Dr, Millcreek, UT 84106

 

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I got the news Saturday morning which was already going to be a hard day. On that day we had a special finding day, which is something we also did in November. We obviously find every day, but this would be a day of no studies, no lessons, no meetings, but exclusively finding from 9am-9pm. When I got the news I felt a little extra discouraged, but I found strength in the example of resilience in my Grandma and we went on to have a pretty good day. 

The highlight was a visit we had with a new friend Amy. We were walking around, trying to find people and tracting, and then we realized that we were in an area we had been in before. A month ago Amy requested to meet with Missionaries online and filled out her information. We had been by and called a number of times but didn't have any success. This time when we were in the area we saw cars in the driveway which was a good sign. She was home and told us to come back at 1pm that day. We went back later and ended up being there for an hour and a half! She's there taking care of her aunt, Patsy, who has dimentia. She started by talking about how she doesn't know much about the church, but she hears a lot of negative things about it like that we are not Christians and that we are a cult. But she said she didn't see any of that in our church and felt like she was being drawn to us. She asked us about the Trinity and the Bible and accepted our answers. She said she's always felt that there ought to be more to God's word than just the Bible so that was really cool. We taught her the whole Restoration and she was very excited about it and about the Book of Mormon. We read the Introduction with her and invited her to read 3 Nephi 11. She said she would and we set up a return appointment for next Saturday. Patsy sat in too but didn't say much and I think she fell asleep for part of it. At the very end Patsy let out a big burp and Amy was like "What do you say?" and Patsy was like "Praise the Lord!" It was so funny. It was one of my favorite lessons and I just feel like Amy is very ready for the gospel.

The rest of Saturday was a lot of hard work, but it was good. Even though we didn't have much more success, we were still happy to find Amy and we felt joy for having put in hard work.

On Friday we also had a good lesson with Ryan, who I talked about last week. We did a tour of the chapel and the Institute building with the YSA Missionaries. I believe he has been prepared to receive the gospel as well and hope he continues to progress.

Right now we are at a baseball game for the San Diego Padres. After our finding day, President Merritt coordinated for the whole mission to go after P-day. It is a fun experience to have all of the missionaries in our Mission here.

Anyway, I love all of you guys. Thanks for all of your care and support. I will be home before we know it.

- Elder Wride

Week 97 - Trio Power

Hello and good afternoon to everyone! It has been a good week

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the Elders in the Spanish ward. I stayed in Del Cerro with Elder Jezik. He's been out for about the same amount of time as I have and we had a good time. We haven't ever really served around each other. Here is a picture of us preaching to the birds in accordance with Mark 16:15. A lot of the humans haven't been very humble, so we are expanding our outreach efforts to other species.

 

None of the ducks listened to us either. However, we did meet some cool people that day. One girl asked us who we were at a park and we talked about similarities and differences between our church and Evangelicals. She expressed interest and we gave her a Book of Mormon. She wants to read it on her own for now, but she has our number so hopefully she'll reach out again or something. At the end of the day we also met these dudes at a park and we couldn't not take a picture with them.

 

In our mission we have these new types of missionaries called "Traveling Missionaries". It's one companionship and their job is to split up and go into various areas in the mission. They go into the areas to see if there's any way they can help or improve the work. On Friday night we had Elder Wayment come into our area to be with us until Monday. We came out at the same time as well and he goes home in 2ish weeks. It was good to have him here. I'll share one story from this weekend.

We were at Lake Murray park, which is the busiest place in our area, and were talking to people. We got some phone numbers and handed out some copies of the Book of Mormon. It was a productive time. We were there for maybe 45 min to an hour and on our way out Elder Wayment pointed out a guy reading on a bench. He was like "That guy is still reading. He was in the same spot when we got here". He rolled down the window and yelled out asking what he was reading and he said it was the Bible. We were leaving the park, but decided to turn around and go over to talk to him. He's a cool guy and has been recently turning his life around. He's with an organization and is going to be baptized there soon. We asked if we could also do a bible study with him sometime and he was super open to it, so we set a time to meet tomorrow. 

On the way back to the car we started talking to another guy named Ryan. He is a cool dude. We got his phone number and set up to meet the next day. He comes from a Christian background but hasn't been practicing. We started talking about prayer and how God is our loving Heavenly Father and it was the message he needed. We invited him to pray 2x a day and he said he would. He is YSA and is interested in meeting with the YSA missionaries more, but it was super good to meet him. He said he is excited to talk to us again.

and Then right after we met Ryan on the first day another guy came up to us and asked if we were Mormons. We introduced ourselves and he said he's always been curious we gave him a Book of Mormon as well and got his contact ingo.

There's still a lot that happened this week and I wouldn't be able to tell you guys all of it, but just know that it was a good week. We've found a lot of people and it was fun to be in a trio again. I haven't been in one since December of 2021. We met a lot of new people and I feel like we are on a good high right now. I'll do my best to keep it going. Here are some pictures.

 

 

I listened to the talk "Be 100% Responsible" this week. If you haven't heard it before, I recommend that you do. It is really good. I will share one story that he gives:

In 1983 a few partners and I started a new ­company that taught time-management seminars and created and sold day planners.

For corporate seminars, we sent our consultants to the client’s headquarters, where they taught at the corporate training facilities. Prior to the seminar, two employees in our distribution center would prepare and ship several boxes of training materials, such as the day planners, binders, and forms. Also included was a participant’s seminar guidebook of around a hundred pages with quotes, fill-in-the blanks, graphs, and illustrations.

The two distribution center employees would normally send the seminar shipment ten days before the seminar. At the time that the following incident occurred, we were teaching around 250 seminars each month. With so many seminar shipments, these two employees would often commit errors, such as not shipping sufficient quantities or omitting certain materials or not shipping on time. This became an irritating and often embarrassing frustration for the consultants.

When these problems occurred, the seminar division would file a complaint with me, as the distribution center was one of my responsibilities. When I spoke with these two employees about errors and system improvements, they never wanted to accept responsibility for the errors. They would blame others, saying things like, “It’s not our fault. The seminar division filled out the Seminar Supplies Request form incorrectly, and we sent the shipment exactly according to their specifications. It’s their fault. You can’t blame us!” Or they might say, “We shipped it on time, but the freight company delivered it late. You can’t blame us!” Another excuse was, “The binder subsidiary packaged the individual seminar kits with errors, and we shipped the kits as they were given to us. It’s their fault.” It seemed these two employees were never responsible for the errors, and so the errors continued.

Then something critical happened. The director of training for a large multinational corporation attended one of our seminars and was so thrilled with it that she invited us to teach a pilot seminar to its fifty or so top executives. On the day of the seminar, our consultant arrived and opened the boxes of materials and discovered that the seminar guidebooks were missing. Without the seminar guidebooks, how would the participants follow along and take notes? Their training director was panic-stricken. Our consultant did the best he could by making sure each participant was given a pad of paper on which to take notes throughout the day, and the seminar turned out reasonably well, even without the guidebooks.

Extremely embarrassed and angry, their training director called our seminar division and said, “You will never teach here again! How could you have made such an embarrassing and inexcusable error with our pilot seminar?”

An upset senior vice president of our seminar division called me and said, “This is the last straw. We are about to lose a million-dollar account because of the distribution center’s errors. We simply can’t tolerate any more errors!”

As one of the owners of the company, I couldn’t tolerate such errors either. At the same time, I did not want to see these two breadwinners fired. After pondering possible solutions, I decided to implement an incentive system to motivate these two men to be more careful. For each seminar shipped correctly, they would receive one additional dollar, or a possibility of an extra $250 each month—hopefully enough to focus their attention on quality. However, if they made one error, a one-dollar penalty wasn’t much of a loss. I therefore decided to also include two $100 bonuses for no errors. With the first error they not only lost one dollar but also the first $100 bonus. If they made a second error, they lost the second $100 bonus.

I also told these employees, “If there is an error, you will lose your bonus, regardless of where that error originates. You are 100 percent responsible for that shipment.”

“Well, that’s not fair,” they responded. “What happens if the seminar division fills out the Seminar Supplies Request form incorrectly and, not knowing, we send the shipment with ‘their’ errors?”

I said, “You will lose your bonus. You are 100 percent responsible for that shipment’s success.”

“That’s not fair! What happens if we send the shipment on time but the freight company delivers it late?”

“You will lose your bonus. You are 100 percent responsible.”

“That’s not fair! What happens if the binder division commits errors in prepackaging the individual seminar kits? You can’t blame us for their mistakes!”

“You will lose your bonus,” I once again responded. “You are 100 percent responsible for that shipment’s success. Do you understand?”

“That isn’t fair!!”

“Well, it may not seem fair, but that’s life. You will lose your bonus.”

What I did was eliminate the anti-­responsibility list as an option for them. They now understood that they could no longer blame others, make excuses, or justify errors—even when they were right and it was someone else’s fault!

What happened next was fascinating to observe. When they would receive an order from the seminar division, they would call the seminar division to review the form item by item. They took responsibility for correcting any errors committed by the seminar division. They began to read the freight company’s documents to make sure the correct delivery date was entered. They began to mark the cardboard shipping boxes “one of seven,” “two of seven,” etc., with each box’s contents written on the outside of the box. They began sending shipments three or four days ­earlier than they had in their previous routine. A few days before the seminar they would call the client company to verify receipt of the shipment and the contents. If they had somehow omitted any materials, they had three or four extra days now to send missing items by express shipment. Errors finally stopped happening, and the employees began to earn their bonuses month after month. It was a life-changing experience for them to learn firsthand the power, control, and reward of being 100 percent responsible.

What these two employees learned is that when they blamed someone else, they were surrendering control of the shipment’s success to ­others—such as the seminar division or the freight company. They learned that excuses keep you from taking control of your life. They learned that it is self-defeating to blame others, make excuses, or justify mistakes—even when you are right! The moment you do any of these self-defeating things, you lose control over the positive outcomes you are seeking in life.

I really liked that and I think it is very applicable to missionary work. So much of missionary work depends on other people's agency. Some people choose or don't choose the gospel. But, we should do everything that is in our control! For example, when it comes to getting friends to read the scriptures we can invite them at the end of a lesson, and then leave the ball in their court. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but I think it's better if we read the scriptures with them, give them specific chapters, call or text to remind or check in, etc. It is about doing everything we can to help someone. They still have their agency, but the approach is much more likely to lead to better outcomes.

I've also been thinking also about this thing I heard from Elder Jezik

“You can’t tell the character of an individual by the way he does his daily work. Watch him when his work is done. See where he goes. Note the companions he seeks, and the things he does when he may do as he pleases. Then you can tell his true character.

People can be either eagles or Hogs. Let us take the eagle, for example. This bird works as hard and as efficiently as any other animal or bird in doing its daily work. It provides for itself and its young by the sweat of its brow, so to speak; but when its daily work is over and the eagle has time of its own to do just as it pleases, note how it spends its recreational moments. It flies in the highest realms of heaven, spreads its wings and bathes in the upper air, for it loves the pure, clean atmosphere and the lofty heights.

On the other hand, let us consider the hog. This animal grunts and grubs and provides for its young just as well as the eagle; but when its working hours are over and it has some recreational moments, observe where it goes and what it does. The hog will seek out the muddiest hole in the pasture and will roll and soak itself in filth, for this is the thing it loves. People can be either eagles or hogs in their leisure time."

Especially since we have the gospel in our lives, I think we all need to be Eagles. We need to do things in our spare time that edifies us and lifts others. We have the gospel because we are being trusted to do so. We need to do our best to live up to the blessings that we have been given, and be Eagles.

Anyway, I think that's all I have for this week. Love you guys and I'll see you soon. I got my flight plans not too long ago, and it is confirmed that I will be arriving at SLC on August 25th. I'll be in Utah until September 8th when I go up to Rexburg for school. Excited to see you guys soon!

- Elder Wride

Week 96 - Last Sacrament Talk

Hey Everyone,

Had a decent 4th of July. We went over to a members house for dinner and then drove on top of a hill nearby to see some fireworks. It wasn't the most exciting firework show, as the area has pretty high restrictions for that kind of thing, but we still saw some fireworks in the distance.

We've had a lot of lessons this week which has been good. Mostly with members as we are trying to get to know the ward better. We did have a couple of friend lessons though. The best one was with our friend Rosa. It was the first time I've gotten to meet her since she's been super busy, and she also brought her granddaughter. We talked about the Book of Mormon and got to know more of her story. She's a funny lady. They also both came to church on Sunday!

We had Zone Conference this week too. It was good. My favorite message was on Liberty Jail and the lessons we can learn from adversity. I recommend the talk by Elder Holland called "Lessons from Liberty Jail"

Prayers for our friend Doug are appreciated. Right now, he has an estimated 1.5 weeks left to live.

I need to keep this email shorter because I'm running out of time, but I also wanted to include the talk I gave on Sunday. It will likely be my last sacrament talk as a missionary.

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Good morning brothers and sisters! It is good to be with you this morning.

For those who I have not yet met, my name is Elder Hyrum Wride. I have been serving in the Del Cerro ward just for a couple weeks, and I have been enjoying my time here so far. I have been on my mission for just 22 months, and have served in 7 other areas all over our Mission: Poway, the Fairmount ward, Otay Ranch, Lakeside, Encinitas, National City and most recently from Brawley, which is just north of El Centro. I go home near the end of August

I am from Sandy, Utah and I come from a big family of 13 kids! Yes you heard that right. Almost every time people hear that they say "Oh, Bless your parents". They are rock stars. I love each of my family members and look forward to seeing them again soon. Before my mission you could find us going mountain biking, skiing, lounging around, and going on trips. Traveling in a large group is as chaotic as you can imagine. It's similar to a scene in the movie "Home Alone" —if you've ever seen it— where this big family is running through the airport. We travel in a long train, and are constantly counting heads. Fortunately no child has ever been left behind, or at least not for very long. After my mission I will be attending BYU-Idaho this fall.

Today I was asked to speak on the Great Apostasy and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a Missionary, this is among the first things that we teach to those who are willing to hear more about our faith. The doctrine of the Restoration is unique to our faith.

To Restore something means to bring it back into its original existence. It is used in this sense when we refer to "The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ''.

Throughout the history of the Bible, God has followed a pattern of using Prophets to teach His gospel. Examples would include Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses. A Prophet is a man of God, and a witness of Christ. They are given the authority and power to do His work on earth, which is known as the Priesthood. By this power they teach and direct God's children.

The Apostle Paul taught (Ephesians 4:11-14):

"11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"

From this, we learn that part of the role of Prophets is to keep the people in line with the teachings of Christ. When people reject the Prophets, they fall away, or enter into a state of what can also be known as Apostasy. This is spiritual darkness and confusion. When the prophets have been killed, the priesthood and power of God has been lost.

2,000 years ago, Christ Himself came to the earth. He established a church and called 12 apostles. He gave them the power and authority to do His work. When He was crucified and resurrected, He left His church in the hands of the apostles.

In the manual "Preach my Gospel", which was recently revised, it says:

"After the death of Jesus Christ, His Apostles sought to keep the doctrine of Christ pure and to maintain order in the Church. However, many Church members turned away from the Apostles and from the doctrine that Jesus had taught. After the Apostles were killed, there was a widespread falling away from the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ. This falling away is sometimes called the Great Apostasy. Because of it, God withdrew priesthood authority from the earth. This loss included the authority needed to direct the Church. As a result, the Church that Jesus had established was no longer on the earth. During this time, people changed many gospel teachings. Much of the knowledge about the true nature of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost was distorted or lost. People also changed priesthood ordinances, such as baptism. Centuries later, truth-seeking men and women tried to reform the teachings and practices that had been changed. They sought greater spiritual light, and some of them spoke of the need for a restoration of truth. Their efforts led to the organization of many churches. This period of time resulted in an increased emphasis on religious freedom, which opened the way for the restoration of truth and authority from God."

Prophets and apostles had foretold this falling away. In Amos 8:11-12 it says:

"11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it"

Also, in Acts 3:20-21, Peter tells us of a time of "Restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began". There needed to be a falling away because if there wasn’t, there could have been no Restitution, which is a synonym for Restoration.

But Brothers and Sisters, there was a Restoration. Some 40 years after this country of religious freedom was born, there was a young boy named Joseph Smith. He was a 14 year old farm boy living in Palmyra, New York. He was surrounded with what He called Religious excitement. In his own words he said:

"So great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant."

We still see much of this today. But Joseph Smith searched for truth and one day came across James 1:5 which says

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Joseph Smith said "Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did;"

Joseph Smith eventually decided to do as James directs and he retired to a Grove of Trees near his home. There, he began to pour out his heart to God. In answer to his prayer, in his own words, he said:

"I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw 2 personages whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other: This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and told him to join none of the churches on earth, for they were all wrong. Many of them had many good things, with faithful Christian people, but they did not have the full picture of the gospel and there was much to come. Over the rest of his life, Joseph Smith was instrumental in the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ.

In the same way the priesthood was conferred anciently, Peter, James, and John appeared to Joseph Smith as resurrected beings and restored the Priesthood to the earth. Joseph Smith was given the power to do God's work and was called to be a Prophet.

On April 6, 1830 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. It was "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:20). It is the same organization that existed in the New Testament. Today we have a Prophet named Russell M. Nelson, and he leads and directs the church with a Quorum of 12 Apostles.

Soon after the organization of the church, the Lord commanded the saints to build a house in His name. From the New Testament, we know that Temple worship was an integral part of the work of Christ and the Apostles. Through the Restoration, Temples are on earth once more.

Joseph Smith also was the means by which the Book of Mormon came forth. The Book of Mormon is a second witness of Jesus Christ, in harmony with the Bible. It is a record of the inhabitants of the ancient Americas and contains stories, prophecies, and doctrine. It contains precious truths.

If you compare the church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament with every other church on earth today, you will only find one that matches for doctrine, organization, ordinances, authority, and fruit: It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We still live in a world of great confusion and strife, but be assured that the heavens are opened. The answer that Joseph Smith received is available to every person. One of the key indicators of the truth is the Book of Mormon. In its Introduction page it says:

"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."

Brothers and Sisters, the promise is sure. Those who seek to know, can know by the power of the Holy Ghost. I am a witness of it.

I have not always had a testimony of the Restoration and of the Book of Mormon. I largely owe what I now know to the past 22 months that I have had as a Missionary. My mission experience has given me the opportunity to dive headfirst into the gospel like never before. The answer wasn’t immediate, but overtime, again and again, I have felt the Spirit confirm to me that the Book of Mormon is true. The doctrine of its pages is sound, and its complexity is staggering. No man could have produced such a Book without the power of God. It is His compelling witness. If you do not already have one, I invite you to do what is necessary to receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon for yourself. As the introduction says, if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet, and this really is the Church of Jesus Christ. If it is true, then it means everything and it should mean everything to us.

Now, a quick word on Missionary work and the gathering of Israel. The gathering of Israel is the most important work happening on the earth today. It is the sharing of the gospel to all people everywhere, and welcoming them to become a part of the House of Israel, who are the Lord's people. This gathering body of the Lord's people is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Anciently, the Lord promised that he would gather together his people and that his sheep would hear His voice. As members of the church, we are asked to love those around us and invite them to come and see. All people are children of God and he desires them to experience the blessings of the full gospel of Jesus Christ. As His servants, we can be the means by which the Lord does His work and be instruments in His hands.

But, I might add, we are not asked to engage in the gathering of Israel because it is dependent on our participation. It is not. The Lord is able to do His own work, and if we choose to not engage, or are passive in the work, the gathering will continue without us. The reason the Lord asks us to engage is because He is eager to bless us and His children around us. Within Missionary work, some of the greatest blessings can be found.

Concerning this work, may I offer a few suggestions of things that you can do:

1) One of my favorites is when members simply invite their friends, neighbors, or others over to their home! According to the Bible Dictionary, the home is comparable to the temple in terms of sacredness. Imagine the kind of influence it can have on someone for them to feel the spirit in your home. It could be something as simple as a meal, Family Home Evening, or other kind of activity. In that visit, focus on getting to know them, and building your relationship with them.

2) Share the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is our sickle, or the great gathering tool that has been given to us by the Lord. It is convincing evidence of the Restoration and has already brought millions to the joy and rest that is found only in Christ. You might consider re-listening to Elder Rasband’s talk from the October 2022 General Conference called "This Day". You could share a Book of Mormon verse, the app, or personally deliver a hard copy. Today the Prophets and Apostles are sharing the Book of Mormon with world and government leaders! Surely it is not too much to ask to share it with your friends or neighbors.

3) Reach out to our less actives! We have so many of them. Every member has access to contacting them through the directory or in the app LDS tools. A simple phone call or visit that sends the message "We are thinking about you" is worthwhile.

4) Read or review the newly released Second edition of Preach My Gospel. While this manual is geared toward full-time missionaries, it is also a tool for the members. In its introduction page it says that it can help members to learn and teach the gospel, understand more about seeking and relying on the Holy Ghost, build unity with the full-time missionaries, and more.

I also share the Prophet's call, that the Lord has asked every able young man to serve a mission. I promise you Young Men that it will be one of the best decisions you will ever make. I also invite the young women here to consider serving a mission. I promise you great blessings if you choose to do so.

I invite you all to consider those around you who you could share the Gospel with and to involve the Lord in the process. I promise that the Spirit will impress upon you what you can do, because everyone can do something. I know you want to share the Gospel and that you have made previous efforts, but I am just asking that you keep going and seek for ways that you can take it to the next level. I invite you to take the work of the Lord seriously—To, as Brigham Young said, pray as if everything depended on the Lord, then work as if it all depended on you.

I leave you with my testimony that the Church is true. As a kid, when I heard people bear their testimonies, I always was bothered by the phrase "I know" because I wondered how? I think I understand it now.

Elder Mark Bragg recently shared this analogy with us in a Zone Conference. He told us that life is like driving in a car through the rain. In order to drive safely, we need to have our windshield wipers on. The wipers give us moments of complete clarity before the rain comes again.

In a similar fashion, the world is constantly pouring distractions, temptations, and other things that obscure our vision. But with our gospel windshield wipers on, there are moments of great clarity. Times in the scriptures, in prayer or maybe in the temple, when we feel that we can see so clearly and we understand and feel that the gospel is true.

The rain will continue to pour, and before Christ comes again it may begin raining cats and dogs, but let's keep our windshield wipers on.

When I have those moments of clarity, and feel the Spirit, and understand, the closest word I can find to expressing my feelings are the words "I know". I feel it and understand it so strongly and clearly it is as though I know.

But, I do not have perfect knowledge. I have not seen the Savior's face, or felt the prints of the nails in his hands or feet. Neither was I present for the events of the Book of Mormon or early days of the Restoration. I still walk by faith but it is faith built upon the great evidences and witnesses of the gospel. One of my favorite scriptures in Hebrews 11:1 says" faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Having faith is not being gullible or naive! We have found very strong evidence to the faith that we have and we can be confident in our testimonies. We can be confident in the witness of the Holy Ghost to our hearts.

Thank you for your goodness and your faith (Finish bearing testimony)

- I love the members and leaders of this church

- We are so blessed and have greater reason to rejoice than all the inhabitants of the earth.

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Love you all!

- Elder Wride

Week 95 - "Let us Labor Diligently"

Hey Everyone! Happy Independence Day

We have dropped more and more people this week :( but it has not been without highlights

One of my favorite lessons was yesterday. There was this lady that the missionaries worked with before and did some yard work for her. She wasn't interested, but said maybe we could meet again and that she would reach out (P.S. when someone says they will reach out, they don't actually mean it 99+% of the time) and on Sunday night she did! She texted us thanking us for the help we provided in the past and said we could meet tomorrow to "discuss beliefs". We went over and she had a bunch of questions for us like "Do you baptize infants?" "Do your priests get married?" and questions about the temple. She is a long time resident of San Diego and remembered touring the San Diego temple when it had its open house in the 90s. It was a really good discussion and I felt like we answered her questions well. After she didn't have any more questions I asked her what she knew about the Book of Mormon. She said she didn't know much and I asked if we could read the Introduction with her. We did, and it was really cool. After reading it she flipped through a lot of the pages and was deep in thought. We told her that Christ came to the Americas and asked if we could leave the book with her to read. She was very quiet when she was looking through the book and I felt the spirit quite strongly. I know she felt it too. She said that the Book was good and interesting, but she declined the invitation. NOOO!!! It made me sad. How could she admit it was good and then still say no? I don't know. She wasn't interested in meeting again but really appreciated our visit. Over my past 20 or so months of experience in San Diego I feel like I have had a lot of experiences that play similarly to this. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to read and gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon! I suspect that it is just the culture of America to not talk about beliefs, and to also not try to share them. It seems everyone already has their own thing, and wants to stick with that. Most people seem to already have an idea of what we do as missionaries and when they see us maybe they think "Mormon", "Polygamy", "Weirdos" ,"Religious" and decide they aren't interested. It seems that most everyone we see has already seen missionaries and are already prepared to tell us "no". Nevertheless, as Mormon says: "let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God".

Our friend Evelyn just had a baby. She has been in the hospital since I've been here so I have not yet met her, but she seems to be our most interested friend in the gospel. Hopefully we will meet with her soon.

We are also working with a couple who are "eternigators" or "eternal investigator".The wife wants to be baptized and is ready, but wants to wait for her husband to be ready. He has a couple of other things that need to be worked through before he gets there. I also have not met them yet because they have been sick, but they are better and we have a lesson on Thursday.

A big highlight of the week was when my Aunt and Uncle came down from Utah and took us to lunch! We talked about missions and it was good to see them.

Here are a couple of other little things:
- Tuesday night (last week) we went to dinner with a member family. As we pulled up I saw this on their walkway

It was really sweet because I remember doing the same thing for the missionaries years ago. We didn't have the missionaries over for dinner many times (Utah missions are different. I am covering one ward here, but they cover multiple stakes there), but when we did it was a big deal for us kids I guess. We wrote all over the driveway and porch, and then I also remember drawing a parking spot for their car along the side of the road. I was so disappointed when they arrived because they didn't park in it. But we still let them eat.

- On Tuesday last week I decided to treat myself and buy a little speaker to listen to things when I'm in the shower. So far it has ranged from listening to calm study music, to "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage, and General Conference talks. On maybe Thursday or Friday our bathroom light went out right before I hopped in the shower. I decided to grab the tall lamp from our bedroom that has 3 different lights, and one of them is this dark blue light. We have kept it in there since then, and it has made my showers quite fresh and hip.

- A member, Sister Bullock, gave me a book by S. Michael Wilcox about finding personal meaning in the temple. It's a tradition that she has with all the missionaries that come through. I am enjoying the book so far and I recommend it. S. Michael Wilcox is awesome.

We're keeping busy. I just got a haircut today and my hair was a little blond! I guess it's a little sun bleached which is some evidence that we have been out and about. I am enjoying talking to people more than I ever have and it is fulfilling.

Love you all!

- Elder Wride