by Ranzel Ganzon
My membership in this Church was a life-changing experience for me. My eyes were opened. I began to understand the true meaning and purpose of life. There I knew that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and that I am literally a child of God and that He knows each one of us by name. I knew then that I have a Savior who loves me and I am filled with amazement that He came down from His throne divine just to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine. And that, through the atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ I have a chance to return and live with God again someday. Then I also knew that through the promises and blessings of the holy temple I can be with my family even after this life. I knew that if I remain true and faithful to the end of the days of my mortal life, Heavenly Father will reward me with eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.
These profound knowledge and beautiful promises inspired me to serve a full-time mission. I felt the urgency to share this wonderful feeling I have to my fellowmen.
One of the sweetest blessing as a member of the church is knowing that everything in this life has a purpose. That everything in this life was made for the good of men. And that, if men choose to do the right things in life things will always turn out well for him. That is an eternal law, and that law cannot be broken even by God himself. There is always an equivalent of good when we do good things in life.
If there is good, there is also evil. Lucifer, the father of all lies is a deceiver. His only mission on this earth is to bring God’s children to eternal damnation. He wants all of us to be as miserable as him. He is the opposition to all that is good.
We have fought hard against him before we came to earth. And now, Heavenly Father has enlisted us all to continue fighting against Lucifer and his army. We are the last and valiant spirits - the most chosen few. We have been reserved to come in these most perilous days to win this war for Him. We are the armies of Helaman for we have been taught in our youth. We are the Lord’s missionaries to bring to the world the truth.
Every one of us who have partaken of the fruit in Lehi’s dream is a partaker of the blessings of eternal life. As Lehi of old, we too want our loved ones to be partakers of this great blessing.
As my son prepares himself to enter the mission field, I was so impressed with how he has grown and changed just a few days before he left for the MTC. After his endowment, his whole countenance changed. His face was all beaming with a smile. You can see a natural excitement and eagerness in his moves and actions. As if I was pulled back in time looking at my own self when I was a young man and was all ready to report to the MTC. I was all excited and beaming. The light of Christ was just all over me. If you don’t know what I mean, just look at the faces of our missionaries and you’ll see what I mean.
Every member of this Church should have that beaming countenance and burning desire to be a part of this great work. If there is anything that keeps us from cowering - that is Satan himself trying to work big time on us. He is a spirit and he has no power over us unless we let him overpower us.
The only desire of the spirit inside us is to fight against the opposition. Satan is our arch enemy and he will do everything to process our mind to work against God. That is his only mission.
But our mission is different from him. Our mission is to bring back every soul to the presence of our Heavenly Father. My son wrote in his email to us his testimony of missionary work. He said, “Missionary work is not all about teaching, it’s all about bringing our fellow brothers and sisters come unto Christ and to lead them back to the kingdom of our Father in Heaven.”
Heavenly Father has created a wonderful body for us. Every part of our body has a function. Say, for example, our index finger was created so we could use it to text our friends about the restored gospel. Computers, internets, and smartphones are all inspired inventions to enhance the speed of missionary work.
Our Church website, LDS.org, and Mormon.org has all the tools we need to put forth missionary work. Heavenly Father is leaving us no more excuses in doing missionary work. Post a spiritual message on Facebook and it reaches all your friends, both members, and non-members. I have so many likes from my non-member friends when I post excerpts from the talks of the General Conferences.
One good tip! Make it a habit to post a Book of Mormon scripture every day in your Facebook. By the end of the year, your non-member friends may have then actually finished reading most of the pages of the Book of Mormon. Isn’t that great?
Brothers and sisters, remember this words as revealed to the Prophet Joseph, “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me! Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation.”
There are many ways to do missionary work without screaming out loud. We have a neighbor downstairs. They are young couples and the wife was pregnant at that time when we knew them. We chatted and make friends with them in the lift. The father would sometimes invite my son, Eszel to play basketball in the evenings. Then, finally, the wife gave birth to a beautiful twin baby boy but with the shocking news that both boys were born with a congenital heart problem.
It was painful news for these young parents. But I tell you that I am grateful to be married to a woman with an instinct to help. Upon knowing the situation, my wife was quick to take action in assisting the couple went through their needs. She right away called all her friend doctors and nurses to get some advice. She offered to let our house helper babysit the babies whenever one of the boys has to go to the hospital for a heart operation or check-ups.
My wife would also make soups for the mother and cook some dinner for them whenever they are in the hospital watching over their boys. This couple became our good friends. One day, I received a text message that they have read about my son’s Melchizedek Priesthood ordination that I’ve posted in Facebook and they requested if it is possible that my son, Eszel could give his twin baby brothers a priesthood blessing.
It was a very touching moment as my son pronounced a blessing to each of his baby brothers. The room was filled with the spirit as both mother and father cradled the boys in their arms to be offered a blessing. This was my son’s first time to give a blessing.
The following day, the couple sent us a beautiful message filled with love and gratitude to my son. They said that they felt a wonderful peaceful feeling during and after the blessing. They felt comforted and assured that things will turn out well for the boys.
Both babies underwent heart surgery, with one of them twice. Now after a few months later, before my son left to serve his mission, we received good news from the boy’s doctor that both boys’ hearts are now functioning well and on its way to full recovery.
Our neighbor is now an avid follower of my son’s mission blog. We regularly chat and say hello to them, we would borrow one of the boys sometimes and they regularly tick “Like” in all of our FB spiritual messages.
My wife and I regularly include them in our prayers and hope that one day that seed we’ve once planted in their hearts will grow up to be a beautiful and fruitful tree.
President Thomas S. Monson once said, “Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved. We can turn from the paths which would lead us down and, with a song in our hearts, follow a star and walk toward the light. We can quicken our step, bolster our courage, and bask in the sunlight of truth. We can hear more clearly the laughter of little children. We can dry the tear of the weeping. We can comfort the dying by sharing the promise of eternal life. If we lift one weary hand which hangs down, if we bring peace to one struggling soul, if we give as did the Master, we can—by showing the way—become a guiding star for some lost mariner.”
I testify before you today that I know that this is the one true church. I know that this gospel is true and I can feel in my heart that the spirit lives here. I am so thankful for the atonement, and that Joseph Smith was unafraid to ask the toughest question of all – and also that he was unafraid to stand up for what he believed in. I look forward to spending the rest of my life practicing these principles that are being taught to me in this Church, and to getting closer to God through personal revelation, and to become as Christ-like as possible in my short time in this earth.
I bear with you my testimony that we have all been invited by Heavenly Father to be partakers of eternal life. But He has also charged us to do our part in bringing our lost brothers and sister back to Christ. It is my testimony that the sweetest joy we can ever have is when someday in the eternities, as we stand at the gates of heaven, we will be there with open arms to welcome the souls of those whose lives we once have touched.
I bear with you my testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. He knows our name and he cares for us. I bear with you my testimony that President Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God. As we listen and apply his teachings into our lives, we will be blessed. I love and sustain the leaders of our Church. They are called of God. We must constantly seek guidance and inspiration from them.
I bear with you my testimony that the Book of Mormon contains the true gospel of our Savior. Joseph Smith indeed is a true prophet of God.
And I leave this testimony with you in the sacred name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
