The Power of Revelation

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

Greetings from Rose Park.  This Wednesday we have transfers so on Tuesday morning I'll find out if I'll be staying in my area or heading out to a new area for the first time on my mission.

This past week, we had an amazing experience with Lilia and her family again.  On Monday, we went to their new house for the first time and were able to sit down for a lesson with them.  The focus of the lesson was the Book of Mormon and how we can receive revelation from it.  For our purposes here, revelation means individualized knowledge or counsel from God to guide our lives. 

We started off by choosing a question to which the family as a whole needed an answer.  Together, they came up with: "Why so many changes over the past five years."  They then explained that five years ago, they lived in a nice home with a good paying job and nearly everything they wanted.  Now, they have no job and live in a single room together (all five of them).  Eduardo, the 14 year old, then prayed and in the prayed specifically asked Heavenly Father, "Why so many changes in our lives?" 

Then we asked Miranda, who is 8 years old, to open the Book of Mormon to page.  She flipped through for a few seconds before stopping at Alma, Chapter 32.  Then I asked her to choose a verse between 1 and 43.  She chose 11.  So together, we started to read from verse 11 and stopped at verse 13.  During a ten minute discussion of those verses, Lilia and her family each learned in both their mind and in their hearts why it was that God has allowed their lives to change so much.  Ishmael, who is 16, explained that he understood perfectly that he just needed to have more faith in Christ and accept that this is what the Lord wants for him. 

The scriptures, both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, can bring us personal revelation for our lives.  My decision to go to BYU before my mission came from the scriptures.  God will literally speak to us through the scriptures if we make the effort to listen.  I know that to be true. 

Please continue to prayer for Lilia, Ishmael, Eduardo, Miranda, and Alex.  Please specifically pray that they can continue to strengthen their testimony in the Book of Mormon as the word of God. 

Love you all,

Elder Colton