Good Morning my dear friends and family! GOD IS A GOD OF MIRACLES!!! I am just overwhelmed by the past week and the miracles that have taken place. God is working miracles all around us each and everyday.
This past week I read the story of Nephi and obtaining the plates of Brass in the Book of Mormon! This is my favorite story of faith in all of the Book of Mormon! I wish to recall this story briefly before I share some things from the past week. Lehi a Prophet and the father of Laman, Lemuel, and Nephi, receives revelation from the Lord that they must return and obtain the plates! I can only imagine this experience. They have just traveled through the wilderness for some time, without any google map or gps to show them where they are going, and no hotel to rest in. They must have been exhausted at this point. Then the Lord comes to them and tells them they need to return and go get the plates. This they did. Immediately, Laman and Lemuel begin to murmur saying that “this is a hard thing” that the Lord had commanded them to do. Nephi’s response was much different! “I WILL GO AND DO THE THINGS WHICH THE LORD HAS COMMANDED…” Their first attempt doesn’t go very well as Laban who has the plates threatens to kill them and run them off. This would have been the moment that many of us would have turned back, but Nephi knew the Lord would fulfill His promise. Their second attempt, the Lord tells them to go and retrieve their gold and silver that had been abandoned in their home when they had left for the promised land. This too ends in failure with Laban taking their possessions and again running them off! Nephi still has the faith to “go and do” for a third time! He said that he “went not knowing before hand what he should do” yet he had faith that the Lord would lead them. My dear brothers and sisters, what happens next is the lesson that we must remember all of our lives. When Nephi arrives to get the plates, Laban is found drunken and on the ground. He didn’t know what would happen! But he knew the Lord would prepare the way to obtain the plates! The Lord is the Master, the Leader of our lives! This experience fills Nephi with the faith to “go and do” the rest of his life! While here in life there will be many things that the Lord asks us to do that might not make much sense! We must not question or falter but go forward in faith to fulfill the commandments of the Lord with the reassurance that He will prepare a way. I testify in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that He NEVER fails on His promises. He will always prepare a way. In these moments when we humbly rely on the Lord we become teachable. When we are teachable, we are able to gain charity! When we gain the love of God, we can conquer all.
This weekend we felt stongly that the Lord had someone for us to baptize. We had prayed for the Lord's help in finding this person! Soon Jaylin was brought to our mind. On Tuesday we had a lesson with him! He said “I am ready to be baptized!” We worked with him throughout the week and Sunday morning right before church we had a miracle baptism! Jaylin's baptism was incredible. He was confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost immediately following in sacrament meeting! Then another miracle happened. His grandmother, the wife of Greg who was baptized a few weeks back, has been strongly progressing! She comes to church each Sunday but has said several times that she will get baptized in a few months at the earliest. In the middle of sacrament she whispered in Greg's ear, “Will you be the one that baptizes me!?” She will be baptized very soon! God is a God of miracles and is preparing the way for His children to receive the fullness of the gospel! His mother Ashley will be baptized in the coming weeks as well. This is a marvelous work.
Thursday afternoon we were driving to our apartment when we saw on the side of a road a red mustang that had its lights flashings. We flipped around and ran up to her and asked if she needed help! She sure did, so we pushed the car up to a turn off where she could be free from the traffic. Soon a friend arrived with gas! As we were leaving, we asked if we could come share a powerful message of God with her! She obliged and we returned the next day to teach her! Well, as she invited us in the next day, she made it clear that she had found a home church and was plenty happy there but agreed to listen! As we began to teach, the spirit filled the room and power filled our souls! She said “I have prayed for months to feel the spirit with this power. It finally has come! This must be true!” She then said, “Let me tell you an interesting story. I moved here three days ago from an apt. complex down the street. I left one thing in the apartment, a Book of Mormon on top of the fridge. Three days later that Book comes walking back into my house!” This miracle is the hand of God and something I will never forget. Although we don’t understand God's plan at times, He is working and there is nothing to fear! Although that day seemed like a hopeless cause, we had no idea of the miracle that was in store.
I wish to share one more miracle, a story of a woman named Dorothy. She is the sweetest grandma I have ever met. We met her earlier in the week and on Saturday Elder Basilius and I went to teach her. As we sat down my eyes began to be filled with tears, I had never felt such a love for someone so quickly. We briefly taught of God's love for her and His plan for her to be happy here in this life. We asked her what she was searching for most in her life, and she said “Freedom. I haven’t been close to the Lord since 1962. I don’t feel free, I feel burdens on my heart that I want to leave! I want my life to begin anew.” The lesson was the most inspiring moment I have had in some time! Dorothy, our dear sister, smiled with joy and we asked her what it would mean for her to feel free from sin! She didn’t know if it was really possible but said she felt she had found her way! I testify that there is a freedom! A freedom from when we fall short. A peace that can come in this troubled world and it is through the Atonement of Christ, our Savior!
This week was truly miraculous! I wish to share more but time is ending! I know that God lives! I know that He leads and guides our lives. Don’t lose faith! Pray for God to help your unbelief. I wish to end by sharing a story that we heard of recently from Wilford Woodruff.
“When we were sent to England, we were sent by revelation. I went into the Staffordshire potteries with Brother Alfred Cordon. We were doing a splen-did work, baptizing almost every night, and I thought it was the finest mission I ever was on. I went one evening to fill an appointment in the Town Hall, at the town of Hanley. There was a very large congregation, and I had appointments out for two or three weeks in that town and adjacent villages. As I went to take my seat the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, ‘This is the last meeting you will hold with this people for many days.’ I was surprised, because I did not know, of course what the Lord wanted me to do. I told the assembly when I rose, ‘This is the last meeting I shall hold with you for many days.’ They asked me after meeting where I was going. I told them I did not know. I went before the Lord in my closet and asked him where he wished me to go, and all the answer I could get was to go to the South. I got into a stage and rode eighty miles south, as I was led by the Spirit of the Lord. The first man's house I stopped at was John Benbow's in Herefordshire. In half an hour after I entered the house I knew exactly why the Lord had sent me. There was a people there who had been praying for the ancient order of things. They were waiting for the gospel as it was taught by Christ and his apostles. The consequence was, for the first 30 days after I got there I baptized 600 of those people. In eight month's labor in that country I brought eighteen hundred into the Church. Why? Because there was a people prepared for the gospel, and the Lord sent me there to do that work.”
This story is story of miracles! That night in the town of Hanley, many souls were ready to accept baptism! But the Lord came to him and told him to go another way! Let's all learn to rely on the Lord and let him be the light in our lives. As we lives our lives in a pure way, to keep our bodies and “temples” clean, the Lord will guide us! He will guide us in each footstep. Let Him be your guide! I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Aiken
