More Miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

First off I want to say congrats to my sister on her engagement! I couldn´t be more excited for her and her future husband! Well here in Argentina things continue to look up and promising. One of the people that we baptized a few weeks ago named Cristina, gave Elder Allen and I a letter expressing her gratutude and telling of some of the spiritual experiences she had that confirmed to her the truth of what we had taught her.. She told of a time where I gave a talk in Church about an experience Elder Hopkin and I had in San Juan. What I related in the experience(in San Jaun) was that there was an investigator named Fabricio who was awesome but for some reason kept putting off his baptism because of the fear of change. As missionaries we know that the confirmer of truth is God, not us, so we prayed about how we could help him receive an answer that he needed to be baptized from God rather than from us. As we all know our Heavenly Father answers us through the scriptures many times, so we decided to try something different. We went to Fabricio´s house and presented a plan. We decided to each say our own personal prayer(in our minds/hearts) and ask God for the direction that we needed in our lives. After that we were going to have Fabricio open the Book of Mormon to whatever page and read what it said for the answer from God. This we did. He opened to Mormon chapter 7. He received his answer through these words, ´´Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the agospel of Christ, which shall be set before you...¨

As I related this story in sacrament meeting it must have sparked something within her. The interesting thing was as I gave the talk I didn´t share the scripture reference of where he had opened to. As I gave the talk, she later says, that she felt as if she hadn´t received that witness and that she wanted an experience like that. She didn´t know for certain if the Book of Mormon was true, but she had faith and trusted in God. She said she had had a hard time reading it in the past, but that she remembered what we had taught her of the importance of praying to God and asking him the truth. So she did that. She said she poured out her soul to God asking Him if the Book of Mormon was true and really wanted to know. She wanted to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God as well. She then relates that after the prayer she remembered the talk I had given and the experience I had shared. She then took the Book of Mormon in her hands and opened it to MORMON 7! As she read the intro to the chapter which reads, ´´Mormon invites the Lamanites of the latter days to believe in Christ, accept his gospel, and be saved—All who believe the Bible will also believe the Book of Mormon,´´She says, ´´tears began to well up in my eyes as I felt a burning sensation in my bosom. I began to understand everything that I was reading and was filled with the greatest feelings I have ever had. She went on to say she read for 5 hours with this same powerful witness from the SPirit burning in her soul. She later bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the work and of the reality of the Savior. Little did she know that she opened up to exactly the same chapter that Fabricio had just three months earlier to receive an answer from God.
I know that the Restored Gospel is true, that God lives and loves us, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ is the word of God along with the Bible and the witness of a living Church headed by Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ being the Cornerstone. I invite all to watch what real and living Prophets and Apostles have to say this weekend as we are edified by the living and vibrant word of God. God lives and still speaks through the mouths of his chosen servants. I love you all have a great week!

Sincerely,
Elder Passantino