My Testimony of The Book of Mormon

Well, I was released from the primary presidency this week. Our ward reorganized the Relief Society and Primary presidencies. I can't believe how quickly the past three years have gone by. Our release as a presidency came as a little bit of a surprise because we didn't think they were going to release us until at least after the primary program (which was scheduled for September 25th). But, I guess the time had come. I'm not going to lie, I was very sad to be released. I have really come to love our primary and the children in our ward. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in the primary organization. It is truly inspired.

In May, our primary presidency was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting. The Primary theme for the month of May was "The Church of Jesus Christ Has Been Restored." There were four sharing time subjects within that theme (#1 The Church of Jesus Christ Has Been Restored; #2 Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration; #3 The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ; and The Priesthood has been restored). I chose to speak on The Book of Mormon.

Since I am planning on using this blog as a family journal and getting it printed up at some point, I wanted to share my testimony of The Book of Mormon. Especially for the sake of my children. I am sure they will hear my testimony many times throughout their life, but I would like them to have it in writing too. So, below is my talk about The Book of Mormon from May.

• “I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep. As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true.” Parley P. Pratt, Pg. 20 of Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.
• “No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon.” Joseph Fielding Smith, October 1961 Conference Report.
• “Members of the Church everywhere should know the Book of Mormon better than any other book. Not only should we know what history and faith-promoting stories it contains, but we should understand its teachings…I have noted within the Church the difference in discernment, in insight, conviction, and spirit between those who know and love the Book of Mormon and those who do not. That book is a great sifter.” Ezra Taft Benson, May 1975 New Era article.

I have always loved the scriptures. This love was instilled in me by my mother and my father. I got my own leather bound scriptures when I turned 12 and graduated from primary. Before that, I had a paperback copy of The Book of Mormon. When I got my leather bound copy of the scriptures, I thought they were so beautiful that I didn’t want to mark them. I remember being in a Sunday school class and my teacher asked everyone to mark their scriptures. I told him I didn’t want to because I liked them to look perfect. He very tactfully told me that if I didn’t mark them, I wouldn’t get as much out of them. Well, I mark my scriptures now! Plenty!

I read the Joseph Smith history while I was in Primary and read The Book of Mormon during family scripture study, but I didn’t read The Book of Mormon from beginning to end by myself until I was 14 years old. My parents were going through their divorce and my father advised me to read The Book of Mormon. I started to read that evening. I decided to test Moroni’s promise found in Moroni 10:3-5 which says “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 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. And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.”

Well, I read the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true for months. I was getting really frustrated because I had expected to have a spiritual witness and confirmation that it was true. But I was getting no answer. Then, one day, I was reading in Alma 32:16-18 which says “Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe. Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe. Now, I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”

I immediately felt the spirit. It was a gentle, quiet, reassuring, teaching, and admonishing epiphany. I realized that the reason I hadn’t had an overwhelming spiritual experience (which is what I was expecting) was because I didn’t need one. It was because I already knew The Book of Mormon was true. I realized that I had always known The Book of Mormon was true. “For if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.” At that moment, I knew it was true and I knew I had always known it.

I read The Book of Mormon probably about five times by the time I had graduated from high school. I had Book of Mormon classes at BYU and studied it there too. During my senior year at BYU, I decided that I wanted to get more out of the scriptures, so I decided to read along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons in church. We were studying the Old Testament my senior year of college. I had read the Bible from beginning to end while I was in high school, but honestly, I didn’t get a whole lot out of it. At the time, there was a lot that I didn’t understand. So, I was looking forward to studying it along with the Gospel Doctrine classes. I grew to LOVE the Old Testament that year. The people came alive to me and I can testify to you that they were real people and that the stories told in the Old Testament are true. I continued to read along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons the following year when we were studying the New Testament. I grew so much spiritually those two years and I was filled with an even greater love for the scriptures and the things I was learning from them.

When it was time to study The Book of Mormon along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons, I was honestly disappointed. During the past two years, I had discovered the beauty of the Old and New Testaments and The Book of Mormon seemed to me to be “old news.” I was mourning the loss of being able to study the Bible. I honestly thought to myself “After reading The Book of Mormon so many times, what else can I learn from it?”

As soon as I thought that in my mind, I felt a prick of the Spirit. I immediately fell to my knees in repentance. I apologized to the Lord for feeling disappointment at the thought of studying The Book of Mormon again. I then sincerely asked Heavenly Father to bless me to see things in the book and learn things that I had never seen, learned, or noticed before.

That year, as I studied The Book of Mormon again, I was humbled by how much I didn’t know and how much the Lord had still to teach me. Perhaps it’s a lesson that all of us have to learn at some time or another. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people give similar complaints such as “Another lesson on tithing? I don’t need to hear about that AGAIN.” Or, “Why should I go to the temple again? I have already been so many times.” I think the lesson is that there is ALWAYS something more that we can learn. We see different things at different times in our lives with the different experiences that we are going through. Besides, the Lord uses a lot of repetition in His teaching and He always has a good reason for doing the things He does!

As I read The Book of Mormon that year, I saw scriptures that I swear I had never noticed before. I gained a greater love for the people that I read about. I gained greater insights and the Spirit poured itself out upon me.

For instance, one of the things that I learned was from Jacob 1:19 which talks about magnifying our callings.

It reads, “And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.”

I came to a new realization of what it can mean to magnify your callings. I started to ponder on the word “magnify” and then I started to think about a magnifying glass. I started to think about what a magnifying glass does. A magnifying glass makes things look larger and clearer and easier to see. It clarifies and enlarges things. To “magnify” means to make something appear larger or to increase it in size. I realized that by magnifying my own callings, I could help to make a certain aspect of the gospel clearer to others. By magnifying my calling, I can help others understand the significance and importance of what certain things mean to the Lord. In my current calling, I can help others see how Heavenly Father and Jesus feel about Primary and our wonderful Primary children.

If we were to reverse the view of the magnifying glass and look at the holder of the magnifying glass through it, that person would look larger. I realized that when I magnify my callings, I can become personally enlarged. As we magnify our callings and serve faithfully, we gain talents, knowledge, experience, and a greater capacity for love.

Through my service in Primary, I have been able to see The Book of Mormon with fresh eyes—through the eyes of our Primary children learning the scriptures and the stories of faith within them and gaining a testimony for themselves. It has been amazing to me to see the Spirit inspire and teach these children.

Since that year when I studied The Book of Mormon along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons, I have realized that with all aspects of the gospel, there is ALWAYS something more we can learn. I have continued to study the scriptures and The Book of Mormon. In this time that we live in, there are so many opportunities placed before us to allow us to continue in our learning. Everyone should take advantage of these opportunities. Shortly before I got married, I took an institute class from Michael Wilcox on The Book of Mormon and my love of that book increased again and I was once more reminded that I had then and still have much to learn from that wonderful book of scripture.

I would like to bear my testimony to you of The Book of Mormon. It IS true. And if you take Moroni up on the promise he gave in Moroni 10:3-5, you too will have a witness of the truth of it. And your witness will come in a deeply personal way to you. The Lord knows the perfect way to answer each individual’s prayers. For Joseph Smith, he received a vision in response to his prayer. For me, I received a gentle reminder that I already knew the Church, the gospel, the scriptures, and more specifically, The Book of Mormon was all true. I would like to say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.