A Memorable Sunday

A few weeks ago we learned that we would have an all mission conference.  This is unusual to have on a Sunday.  Of course, everyone was speculating on why and who would be coming.  About a week before, President Reynolds shared with us that Elder Holland and his wife would be coming to speak to the mission. We were all to be in our seats at 8:15 and the conference was to begin at 9:00.

Before the meeting started, the mission wanted a picture of the all the missionaries with Elder Holland.  All 220+ of us arranged ourselves for the picture.

The first speakers of the morning were Sister Reynolds and President Reynolds welcoming the Hollands to New York.  This was followed by their son, Matt Holland, who is president of Utah Valley University.  He is a gifted speaker.  He spoke of his mission and how a mission can change your life.  Next was Sister Holland.  She spoke of growing up in a small rural town in southern Utah.  She told how she was and still is a very shy person.  When she was in her early 20's she lived in New Jersey and traveled each day to New York for school.  While on the train she read her Book of Mormon.  One day she noticed a nicely dressed man sitting next to her, probably on his way to work.  That day she happened to complete the Book of Mormon and upon closing the book exclaimed, "It is true."  The man next to her looked at her with a questioned look on his face.  She explained what she was reading,why it was true, and offered him the book to read.  He did and later was baptized.  

Elder Holland is a powerful speaker!  What a missionary he must have been as a young man.  He spoke of the similarities between Lehi and Joseph Smith.  If you read the 14 pages of 1 Nephi and then compare them with the Joseph Smith story you will understand.

He said you must read THE BOOK OF MORMON!  The Church of Jesus Christ is the right church because we still receive revelations from our Father in Heaven and we have the Priesthood.  No other church can make this claim.

He spoke of Salvation and how it requires some suffering in our lives; the atonement was not easy for Christ. He suffered for all of us.  If we are true disciples of Christ we must walk His walk and talk His talk ALL of the time.  It was not easy for Christ and it won't be easy for us either.  To reach salvation we must first travel though the Garden of Gethsemane.

We were blessed to learn from Elder Holland.  He is a true apostle of the Lord.

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