I Just Want to Share My Testimony about Joseph Smith

06/30/2014

This week was pretty good.  First of all I had to go to San Pedro to get another ingrown toenail removed.  Then we had a conference in San Pedro the next day with Elder Ochoa of the Seventy. It was a really good conference.  I was able to learn some great things and came out of it with a desire to be better. We are trying to up the commitment and obedience and just generally make the mission better and so we are working on a cleansing process I guess you could say.  President is tightening down on a lot of things. 

I didn’t bring my notes from the conference so I won’t share anything from that.  I just want to share my testimony about Joseph Smith.  We watched the video about the restoration with a member the other day and I just felt so grateful for him and his role as a prophet.  I’m thankful for his desire to do what was right and to find for himself what was right.  I’m thankful he had the courage to stand by his word and that he stayed strong to his account of his vision.  I’m so very thankful that he was called as a prophet and that he received the priesthood, which is necessary for our salvation.  I’m so very thankful that he translated the Book of Mormon and that we have this additional guide to the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we have more of the word of God.  I’m so very thankful that the ordinances of salvation were restored and that through them we can return to God.  I’m so thankful that he restored the gospel and the original teachings of Jesus Christ.  This gospel and church are the most clear of anything to me.  It just makes sense.  I’m so thankful that through Joseph Smith, the great apostasy was finished and that we were able to have the light of the gospel on the earth again.  I honestly wish I could have lived in those times of the restoration.  I’m so very thankful for him and his sacrifices to bring all these things to light.  I can’t imagine all the doubts he faced.  I’m so very thankful that we have another prophet like Joseph Smith, in this day, to guide us like he did.  After the video I just felt so thankful for Joseph Smith and I can’t really describe it. But I know he was a prophet called of God to complete all these things, and because of him, we have the complete truth.  I’m so very thankful for that and the chance I have to share the complete truth here in Honduras.  I know this is the truth, and the true church, and that we have a prophet today just like in ancient times.

Well that’s all I’ve got today.  Love you all and miss you all and hope you are doing good in your separate pursuits!  Remember to keep moving forward in the gospel, because the only other option is falling back, and that should never be the option.  

Elder Ollis