This is a talk that Abbie gave on Sunday Feb 21, 2016 in sacrament meeting. She was the last speaker. I thought it was so beautiful and wanted to document it here. Love you, Abbie!
14 months ago, I first stepped foot on Texas soil, and I stand before you today an entirely different person. I have experienced the Restoration. I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, called of Him by prophecy and revelation and assigned to labor in the Texas San Antonio Mission. I can imagine no greater place to serve! I can think of no
greater place to come to know my Savior and His gospel.
Brothers and Sisters, the blood of the Restoration runs deep within my soul. I pray for you everyday that you may feel the same.
God is a God of miracles. There have been two miracles in the history of the world that have changed the eternal destiny of mankind: the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As members of the church, we speak often of the Atonement, and rightly so! As Jacob says in Jacob 4: "Why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him?" But how many times do we just glaze over the Restoration, making it seem as though it is just another event in church history, instead of the reason FOR church history. How often do we forget that the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the second greatest thing to ever happen on the earth? It is our unique message to the world! I can walk up to someone on the street and tell them their family can be forever, and they can say "Yeah, I already knew that." But if I tell them that there is a prophet on the earth today, chosen by God to teach us the best way to follow Christ, they can't say that. They don't already know that! It is a unique message! If we can come to understand that, and help others understand, our testimonies will be built on the solid bedrock of truth!
As a missionary, I have come to know my loving Heavenly Father, who has taught His children His gospel since the very beginning of time. I have come to know my Father who chose Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses to lead mankind and teach repentance.
I know our loving Heavenly Father who sent His Only Begotten Son to not only lead us and teach us repentance, but to make repentance possible. The scriptures teach us that He is the only way to salvation. In Mosiah 3, King Benjamin says:
"... There shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."
Jesus Christ is the only way to gain salvation. There is no backdoor into the celestial kingdom, no side stairwell that we can sneak through if we time it right.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should no perish, but have everlasting life."
Jesus Christ walked this earth. He lived for us. He suffered for us. He died for us. He rose for us. He lives today. This is the very center of the gospel, the very reason we are here. He is the only Way.
There was a time that this world fell away from the way of Christ. They distanced themselves from God and cast themselves into spiritual darkness (it is little wonder that we call this time the dark ages!) The fulness of the gospel could not be found. The joy of partaking in priesthood ordinances, the joy of making covenants, the joy of Christ
could not be found on the earth.
How wonderful it is to know our Father in Heaven loved us enough to call prophets today to lead us and teach us repentance. There are so many who do not know this!
I have a friend whom I love very dearly who is a member of another faith. We grew up together, but when I came on my mission, I hadn't heard from her in about a year. She somehow found my email address and started emailing me each week, asking questions about the gospel. I remember thinking, "I'm a missionary. I've totally got this. Someone schedule the baptism!" One week, she asked me about prophets and why we need them today. I don't remember what I told her, it was probably a quote straight from Preach My Gospel, but her reply broke my heart. She told me that she just couldn't believe that. That God had given us all that He was ever going to give us and that was that.
At first, I was angry. How could she believe something like that? I went on a hunt. I searched and searched for something I could send her that would change her mind. Then I found this quote from President James E. Faust:
"What has happened to David’s living God? It is the greatest insult to reason to suggest that God, who spoke so freely to the prophets of the Old Testament including Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and the other prophets, now stands mute, uncommunicative, and silent.
"We may well ask, Does God love us less than those led by the ancient prophets? Do we need his guidance and instruction less? Reason suggests that this cannot be. Does he not care? Has he lost his voice? Has he gone on a permanent vacation? Does he sleep? The unreasonableness of each of these proposals is self-evident."
I read that and realized that I needed to ask myself those questions and come to a true knowledge for myself that we need prophets today. I responded to my friend with a brief testimony and told her that I loved her. That was nearly a year ago, and I have not heard from her since.
Brothers and Sisters, I can stand before you today and declare that God does not sleep. He has not left us alone. He will never leave us alone. He has restored to us the knowledge of the covenants He made with our fathers and is offering to us those same blessings. The truth of this is etched onto my heart and it will never fade.
The absolute fact that our loving Father in Heaven saw fit to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth brings me so much joy! The fulness of the gospel is available to us NOW.
One spring morning, nearly 200 years ago, Joseph Smith knelt in a grove of trees to ask God where he could go to find Him.
In his own words, Joseph says:
"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--
(Joseph), this is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. In Their infinite and eternal love, They called him to be the Prophet of the Restoration. Through him, They restored every truth, every principle, and every priesthood key necessary for our salvation. At some point, every single one of us in this room has felt the truth of this to some
degree, or else we wouldn't be here.
When I was a junior in high school, I had the opportunity to visit the Sacred Grove. My seminary took a group of his students, and we visited church history sites for two weeks. The way the trip lined up, we visited the Sacred Grove during the second week. I was so excited. I just knew that if I could visit that wonderful place, I would gain a
powerful testimony. I was counting the days! When we finally made it to Palmyra, we were taken to the grove and Brother Greer turned us loose. I found myself a quiet place and opened my scriptures. I read in Joseph Smith-History and began to pray. Then I waited. And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
I can still picture the place I was sitting. I can see the trees and feel the misty air. I can hear the birds and smell the fresh scent of nature. And I was sitting there; waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
I remember thinking, "Maybe I didn't ask hard enough." So I asked again.
And again.
And again.
And I waited.
And waited.
Pretty soon it was time to leave. I knew that I would probably never be able to visit that sacred place again, and I didn't want to leave... I hadn't received the witness I so desired yet! I was one of the last stragglers onto the bus. I sat in my seat and listened to my peers tell of their incredible experiences in the grove. I sat in silence.
That night I prayed and asked why. Why didn't I get an answer in the grove? It just wasn't fair. I listened to all of my friends tell the story of their spiritual experiences, didn't I deserve one, too? What had I done wrong?
I will never forget the answer I received that night. It was as if my Heavenly Father were right next to me, lovingly saying: "Sister Waite, you already know. You have read, pondered, and prayed about the Book of Mormon. You have prayed about Joseph Smith. You received the answers you were seeking. Was that not enough?"
I think that too often we make our testimonies conditional, saying things like: "If I can visit the Sacred Grove, I'll know that the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith," or "I won't know that President Monson is the Prophet of the Lord today until I shake his hand and look into his eyes," or "Until I kneel at Christ's feet, I won't really know that He is my Savior." This should never, ever be the case. We can know it now.
Brothers and Sisters, I love you. God loves you. And because He loves you, He has restored His gospel to this earth! Because of this Restoration, we have a knowledge of the covenants that the Lord has made with our fathers and are able to partake of those blessings. We have the opportunity to make covenants ourselves! What a wondrous blessing!
There is a verse of scripture that has absolutely changed the way I see the word of the Lord. Jeremiah 20:9 reads:
"... his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."
Brothers and Sisters, the fire of the Restoration is shut up deep within my bones and I cannot put it out. I cannot stay any longer. Because of my knowledge and testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I have been converted and cannot stay the same any longer. I cannot stay my tongue in declaring this glorious message!
After enduring persecution for his testimony, the Prophet Joseph Smith said:
"Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it..."
Brothers and Sisters, Joseph knows it. God knows it. And I know it.
And I will never deny it.
