Moroni
In 2001, in the middle of July, when I was 17, a friend of mine organized a trip to Lake Powell. His dad, being the bishop of our ward, used the opportunity, inviting many young men who would soon be graduating high school, and perhaps going on missions, to make the trip a fellowship experience. It was a trip of several days, and near the end we took a short drive to see some of the many Native American ruins that are scattered all over southern Utah. In the evening we stopped by the remnants of a tower, only the base of 3 or four feet were left. We sat around the ring of the tower and had a brief devotional. We were each invited to wander off in separate directions to hunt for fossils, arrowheads, or some other piece of the many remnants that now lie scattered over the earth. I was not so interested in finding fossils, but watching the glowing red sunset slowly creep behind the desert mountains, and the sky fading from blue to purple and pink. Being alone and considering the condition of my soul, as wilderness sunsets often invoke such a state of mind, I felt the desire to kneel and pray a simple prayer, to express gratitude and a desire for the Holy Spirit. I was the last to return, probably so much later that the adults in the groups may have been growing nervous. We shared some testimonies and I had a desire to read from the scriptures, a passage that came to mind but one that I had not memorized. Struggling to read it in the dark, one of the adult leaders began reciting from memory the scripture that I was trying to read:
10:4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
10:5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
I was impressed. I later wrote the date and highlighted these verses of0 Moroni in my Book of Mormon. This is the witness that I have been given, that the Book of Mormon contains the word of God, as delivered to his prophets on the American continent, and as it proceeded from his own mouth when he visited them. The Book of Mormon was written for us, the remnant of the house of Israel and to the gentile to convince us all to come unto Christ through the new covenant contained therein. It is a witness that has been confirmed to me again and again as I have studied it this past year. It is a witness that establishes the firm foundation upon which I rest my hope and faith. Because of this, I am unshaken, even as the word suffers through turmoil in its various forms. Ans so to conclude this Sunday School for 2020, having been released from the calling and given a new assignment, I add my witness to that of Moroni:
10:32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
