April 18th - No wicked man could write such a book

Hello!

Thank you very much for the package. We won't be needing to buy anymore food for the rest of this transfer so that's good. My companion was happy that he got those two hymnbooks and that they came from America haha. 

But to answer your question I would say study the Book of Mormon and pray to know if its true. If one learns that the Book of Mormon is true they will come to know that it really is the keystone of our religion, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, that Joseph Smith was his prophet, and that he did restore His church onto the earth in preparation for the second coming of the Messiah. Preach My Gospel teaches that as we increase our testimony and knowledge of the atonement, so will our desire to share the gospel. Parents just need to set good examples and do what they can to raise their children unto the Lord. That's what I'm most grateful for and remember the most from my childhood--that the gospel was always a priority in family life.

This new transfer we have coming up should have at least 2 guaranteed baptisms on the 14th. The 2 came to church and they loved how they learned a lot and made a lot of new friends. There's also family that has a good chance to baptized on the 21st. The problem is that the dad is in Manila and doesn't yet know that we've been sharing at their home. Hopefully he's understanding and okay with it.

Yesterday we went back to the seventh-day adventist compound. We also attended their church last saturday. Lets just say that a friendly defense of belief took place. They were very nice and open and fed us again, but they are strong in their belief of saturday as the Lord's day. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that concerns like that basically hinge on whether Joseph Smith and his successors were and are prophets receiving divine continuing revelation. We asked the Elder if he believed there was and he said yes because Elijah never died. Ellen G. White was their last prophet. They were hesitant about the Book of Mormon but accepted to read and pray about it. They also said they will be comparing it to the bible. Elder Holland's October 2009 GC talk comes into my mind: 

"For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history--perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died--from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has every withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as a its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, 'No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and were commanded of God to do so."

I too have come to know by the power of the Holy Ghost and prayer that it's true and that Joseph Smith saw what he saw, he heard what he heard, and he did what he was commanded and chosen to do.

Love,

Elder Brown.