Email to Family and Friends
Our Zone Leaders unexpectedly called us up and went on an exchange with us. Elder Berret (my old District Leader) came down to Thermopolis, while Elder Lester and Elder Tucker went to Powell ( that's over 2 hours away). Haha our next door neighbor and really good friend Brad gave us some MREs for lunch. They were actually really good!
While we were on our exchange we get a random phone call at 9:00 at night. Elder Berret answers haha and this guy (we have no idea were he lives or how he got our number, he has a Colorado number) is asking him for a scholar of the Book of Mormon, someone who has had dozens of years of experience. Elder Berret looks at me with big eyes and just hands me the phone. I have no idea what is happening at this point. JR (the guy on the phone) go through the same thing with me, but I told him I'm no scholar but I feel I have a good understanding of the holy scriptures. After a little bit he started to trust me. To be honest I thought this was a prank at first.
JR is a Jew who used to be Christian and we share a common favorite scripture John 17:3 (see first line of lesson below). We are best friends now. I have had many very long phone calls with him. He knows the Bible very, very, very, very well. I not sure quite yet how he stumbled upon the Book of Mormon, but in his reading of it, it is contradicting his belief, but explains every question he has had over the years so simply and clearly that he can't deny it and he is just blown away. Now he has some concerns that are very interesting about the God head. He is asking questions I have never heard before that I need to know. I know in my gut that God is trying to help me come to know Him, His Son, and The Holy Ghost ALOT more than I previously have. I can't even tell you a hundredth if the situation, but I feel I have explained it enough.
I love all of you! Thank you for all your wonderful support and packages. If any are willing to help I am in a desperate need of some stamps. It is much appreciated :) Thank you all!
"Life Eternal"
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (1) This is my favorite scripture. I think Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explains it best. He pointed out the difference between merely knowing about God and knowing Him:
“It is one thing to know about God and another to know him. We know about him when we learn that he is a personal being in whose image man is created; when we learn that the Son is in the express image of his Father’s person; when we learn that both the Father and the Son possess certain specified attributes and powers. But we know them, in the sense of gaining eternal life, when we enjoy and experience the same things they do. To know God is to think what he thinks, to feel what he feels, to have the power he possesses, to comprehend the truths he understands, and to do what he does. Those who know God become like him, and have his kind of life, which is eternal life” (2).
This is life eternal (the purpose of our existence) to know God Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Over the past few years I have come to know my Father and his Son close enough to call them my very best friends. They are literally with me and they help me through every circumstance. And I know that is not, and will never be unique to just me. But is available to everyone.
I would exhort all of you, to come to know the only true God even more. Nothing else take priority of this duty each one of us have.
"I close now with this counsel to the Lord’s priesthood servants. Ponder deeply and diligently in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. Persist in prayer for the Holy Ghost to reveal to you the nature of God the Father and His Beloved Son. Plead that the Spirit will show you what the Lord wants you to do. Plan to do it. Promise Him to obey. Act with determination until you have done what He asked. And then pray to give thanks for the opportunity to serve and to know what you might do next."
"I testify that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. They are resurrected and glorified beings who love us and watch over us." (3) I know them, and I know that you do and can know them as well. May God bless each and everyone of you this Christmas season. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Philip R. Bredsguard
Notes
- John 17:3
- Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:762
- Act in all Diligence, President Henry B. Eyring, April 2010 General Conference
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