The Lord Speaks Peace to Our Souls

A Special Witness: Remembering Elder L. Tom Perry

Imagine Heavenly Father Reaching Out To You

From Karsten Hinckley

Teaching in Thailand 

Things are going well here in Chaing Mai. I will start off with a lesson that we had with one of our investigators. This girl has met with us a few times already and she was telling us how she hasn’t really been praying. We tried to really explain how prayer is the way to get answers to anything and the way to really communicate with our Father in Heaven. 

We had a Church member in that lesson and what he told this girl was something I really liked. He told her to pray, but not only to talk the whole time: to wait and listen. He said that when you are done talking to your Heavenly Father, [you should] keep your eyes closed and wait for Heavenly Father’s response to your prayer. He said that sometimes when you get done you will miss out on what is trying to be related to you. As soon as you open your eyes you could miss out on a special answer. Imagine Heavenly Father reaching out to you with an answer right as you open your eyes. I hope that made sense. It really made me think how I will pray from here on out. 

Another miracle this week was a girl from English class. This past Tuesday she came up to me after we gave our spiritual thought and asked, “How or what do I have to do to go to church?” I said just come at 9 or 1. She said, “Okay, I will come at 1.” I said I would call her Saturday and just remind her. Well, she came that Sunday and she said that she felt the Spirit so strong. That isn’t the miracle though. About two to three months ago a spiritual thought was given about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. At the beginning of all of our English classes we teach everyone how to pray and we pray together. She was telling us how since the day of that spiritual thought, she has been praying with her friend to know the truth. She has been praying for the last two to three months on her own. Her friend is not a member either. She even skipped her class at school just to come! She only had time for the sacrament. She asked, “What do I have to do?” We said,  “You have to get baptized.” We will be teaching this girl from here on out. The Lord is truly preparing many of Gods children every day! 

The Lord Will Change Their Hearts

From Cambree King

Teaching in Honduras 

We went to bring Jeimy and Astrid and Ivan to church and, after fishing through all of the excuses of no clothes and whatnot, they just said they don’t want to come. They [told us] we can go visit them every day if we want, but they don’t want to come to church. It was pretty hard to listen to, but we can’t change the desires of their hearts. At lunch, we took some time to pray as companions and we just plead that the Lord would let the Spirit touch their hearts and help us to know what we could do so that they understand why they need to go to church. 

At night, we went to teach them and, without even asking, Astrid said that they will never ever miss another Sunday in their lives. They said they promised to be in church no matter what happened. We were super shocked and so I asked Astrid why. She said the whole hour that they would have been at church she just felt something in her heart. Jeimy said the same thing and they said they knew everything we had taught was true. I was literally amazed. That’s the lesson I learned this week: That if we have faith in the Lord and put our trust completely in Him, He will work the change of heart in the people.

A Humbling and Peaceful Experience

From David and Viola Ricks

Teaching in Germany

There is an older couple that we have visited on a regular basis, probably the first couple that we visited when we got here.  She has waited on him hand and foot every since we got here.  She is 89 and has been a complete angel in her care for him.  That is what I call her when I see her, "an angel".  He hasn't appreciated it too much because he has wanted me to call HIM an angel also.  He has been a very nice man, but he hasn't been the angel.  Sister Ricks hasn't known what to do when we visit, so she has always prepared a song to sing and they have always enjoyed that very much.  When we visited he always said, just before we get sat down, “Where is my Botschaft?” which means message.  When the message was finished, then he would ask for his song, which they always enjoyed; then he would get tears in his eyes and bear his testimony. 

We got a call yesterday evening…that Brother Meyer had died.  We went and got the elders and took them to the hospital where he was.  We had wanted to visit him on Wednesday, but had not found the place before we ran out of time for our next visit.  So we missed them, kind of sad.  Anyway, we found the place this time.  He was lying there and had been dead for a couple of hours.  A wonderful young Relief Society president and her husband were there and were tenderly attending to Sister Meyer’s  every need.  They had gone to visit and it just so happened that Bother Meyer passed away while they were there.  Otherwise, Sister Meyer would have been alone.  What a tender mercy, and example of a Relief Society President responding to a prompting.  

The spirit was so strong there.  Elder Fialho said a very heartferlt prayer, and then said, "He is still here."  And his spirit was there.  We could still feel his presence.  He was a very faithful, endowed man who loved the gospel with all of his heart.  His wife is a non-member, but always read the Book of Mormon with him every day, and came to church with him before he became too feeble.   Like Elder Ricks said, “She is an angel.”

I felt like we should sing a song.  The feeling was just as if we were in his small apartment again and he said he wanted the "singen".  The Elders are very musical and had been having the same feelings.  Elder Fialho even had the song running through his head.  Sis Meyer said that would be nice and walked over to her husband and patted his cheek and said, "Sweetie, they want to sing you a song before they leave."  She was really touched and full of joy for the song.  Dad said we did a wonderful job of singing  Naher mein Gott zu dir,  Nearer my God to thee.  We all left together.  It was a very humbling and peaceful experience. The Elders will have impressed on their hearts for a lifetime.