Testimony of the Restored Gospel

For youth conference Morgan and Cassidy are getting letters with our testimony of the restored gospel. I thought it would be nice to have one from Emily too. So here it is:


I would love to share my testimony of the Restored Gospel:)

My testimony kind of started of course when I was young, but the first identifiable time that I could say that I had my own testimony was in 8th grade, when I prayed about the Book of Mormon for the first time, I had a sincere desire to know and the Lord granted me that desire to know that in a very real way by the Power of the Holy Ghost, I knew that the Book of Mormon was true, and when you know the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith has to be a prophet, and all of his revelations are from God. Then as I grew I gained a testimony of the power of the Priesthood. That it truly is the power of God; the same power that he used to create the Earth, that is the power that we have on the Earth today!

Then when I went into the MTC (whew, that was a rough 2 weeks for me) I began to doubt my faith, I was so scared to go and to teach, and share the gospel with people. As I read Enos a peace came over me and I knew that the Lord knew what my challenges were and he was there to help me.

As I came into the mission field and began to share about the restored gospel every day. I gained an unshakable knowledge that this is true. We are encouraged to teach at least one restoration lesson daily. I challenge you to try to share the first vision, every day for 18 months and not gain a testimony of it! Sometimes when I share the first vision, in Joseph Smith's words I am so overwhelmed with the Spirit that I know that it is true. Overall where my testimony is at right now came from having tons of little experiences with the Spirit as I am sharing the Gospel. When we teach we always begin a lesson with the How to Begin teaching points. They are in Chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel but one of them says: Our message cannot be learned all at once. Understanding will come over time through prayer, study, experience, and keeping God's commandments." You gain knowledge as you gain experience! That I how I know, because as I share this gospel, as I share the restoration every day, I gain experience. I am 100% convinced that the reason Elder Ballard is challenging everyone to share the gospel and to invite people to be taught by the missionaries, is not so the missionaries can have millions of people to teach. It is so the members will become more firm in their faith as they share the gospel. If you want to gain a stronger testimony of the Restored gospel, share it! That is why missionaries come home converted, not because they baptized tons of people, but because they shared the gospel despite the circumstances and the fear that was inside them.