What brings me a great amount of peace into my life? It is the most incredible book that I have ever read. It is the Book of Mormon. I love to read and ponder from this amazing book. Last year as I was reading and pondering, my thoughts turned to the young women in the stake that I currently serve in. We have amazing young women in our stake. They are incredible…each in their own way. As I thought about the struggles that they were going through in their lives…my thoughts turned to a quote by President Ezra Taft Benson, “There is power that flows into our lives when we read and study the scriptures on a daily basis that cannot be found any other way.” They needed to read the Book of Mormon. We needed to read The Book of Mormon. They needed to strive to have a testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We needed to strive to have a testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through reading and studying, we can have a power that flows through our lives that will make us become stronger that wouldn’t happen any other way.
As a Stake YW Presidency, we challenged each of our young women and our leaders to read The Book of Mormon by Young Women’s camp. When the challenge was given, they had 9 months to read the entire Book of Mormon. We encouraged them to accept this challenge and watch how their lives would change. We are now down to 95 days. I am so curious to find out how many young women and leaders accepted this challenge. I am kinda scared to know how many actually did.
For the leaders, we gave them each an inexpensive blue Book of Mormon. You know the ones that you pick up at the distribution center for a couple of dollars. We asked them to read…mark…write…anything in these books…their thoughts…their ideas…their questions. I want them to make this inexpensive book the most valuable book that they own. I want them to gain a testimony that is so strong…that nothing can destroy it. By doing this, I know that they could influence our young woman to do the same. Think of the blessings that they would receive and the examples that they would be to our young women.
After they have feasted…we would collect all of the books and re-distribute them to those that also accepted the challenge. Oh, I hope that our leaders accepted the challenge.
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Guess what? I accepted the challenge and I do NOT want to give my book away. I have written so many things in it. The verses are marked, the margins are written in, and the pages have tears that have been shed on them. It is something that I cherish. It has become apart of me. My testimony has been strengthened due to the daily reading, pondering and studying. I am so grateful for this experience. I hope and pray that others have had the same type of experience. As I think of the day that I have to give this book up….I cringe. I don’t want to just give it to someone who doesn’t know how much it means to me. Is this selfish? I feel that it is but…I want to give it to someone who really knows how much I love this valuable book.
This book has become a part of me!
~Michelle
2 comments:
Chel I love you. I love your testimony in the church and how you have made me want to have a stong testimony myself. I am so thankful that I can call you up at 11:00 at night and ask you questions about the verses I am reading and you are always there to help me understand. I always thought people were I guess the best word is weird, that they loved reading the book of mormon. Until I started reading it. I can't tell you how much I love it. I somehow find peace or messages that seem to be directed to me.
I am confident that someday my testimony will be strong and I will feel the spirit everyday and cherish it even more. Thank you for being such a wonderful example to me.
I want this book of yours! There are so many things I see in there that I wish I had written in mine to help me better understand. I only hope that one day I can be as knowledgeable as you are in this!
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