Testimony of a Witness

Mon, January 24, 2011 7:44:05 PM

So this week was very special. We had the opportunity to have a conference with the apostle Elder Christofferson, as well as a member of the seventy and other important people and, of course, their spouses. He (Elder Christofferson) shook each of our hands individually and we got to take a photo with him but I don’t know when we will receive that. I personally learned a lot and received answers that I had been looking for. He also gave us many areas that we can focus on which I am excited to put into practice. At the end he opened it up for questions and one of the elders asked a question about how we can become true converts ourselves in the mission. President Arredondo´s answer to this was that he believes it to be more of a whole life process but that one key indicator of true conversion is how constant the spirit is in our lives. As I was reviewing my notes over the weekend I realized that we had already been told indirectly how to do that in the overall message given throughout the conference by all of the speakers. If you combine all the speakers, the message was: You can become a true convert if you truly live the gospel by changing habits to be able to seek the will of the Father through personal revelation (which we receive through prayer, study, and sharing the gospel), and if we follow His will and that revelation in faith, leaving the rest of the world behind, we can trust that He will guide us for good in our lives and provide all we truly need because He lives and knows more about us than we do and loves us.

Also in the choir, we were given the opportunity to finally sing `I´m trying to be like Jesus´ (in Spanish) which we have been practicing for the last 3 weeks. In the end it was definitely worth the sacrifice of P-days. The spirit was so strong and Elder Christofferson took a moment of silence and then told us that it was one of the most beautiful missionary choirs he has ever had the privilege of hearing. And he ¨has heard a LOT of missionary choirs¨ in his days. Wow. How special. He later commented to President Arredondo that what really impacted him the most was the song and all of us - the translation doesn’t really do much justice but yes, it was awesome.

Courtney and two good friends from the choir: Hnas. Wilford and Crosland

This week was amazing. I am learning every day how to have more faith in the Lord and how to grow and develop myself as a person. We are here learning how to be the best people we can be through service to other people and truly living the gospel constantly. We are here to learn how to incorporate the mission into our own personal lives. The Lord will provide everything if we are prepared to seek his will, act on the answers we receive, and follow Him in faith. We must labor and live so as to obtain the spirit constantly in our lives. If we do that, we will succeed in every aspect of our lives necessary in the eyes of the Lord.

I also want to include something that was probably one of the strongest confirmations I have ever had the privilege to witness. As Elder Christofferson gave us blessings, he concluded with his testimony as a special witness of God. He told us that God loves us, and that he knows us better than we know ourselves. He testified that he knows that Jesus Christ is the active leader of this church and that it is the most important thing on the earth right now. And to conclude he testified that he knows Jesus Christ lives. And he shared that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.