"His Priesthood and His Church"

As I put "The Living Christ" into memory, I noticed that not only did I feel the witness of Jesus Christ's Divine mission but I felt a powerful and undeniable witness that Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the restoration and that we have prophets on the earth today. 

In "The Living Christ" I love the way Joseph Smith describes the attributes of the Savior from first-hand experience; His eyes, His hair, His countenance, and His voice. Wow, can you imagine what that would have been like? I long for that day! But even here and now, I believe I have seen glimpses of my Savior in the faces of those who love Him, and I can only imagine all of that beauty and glory combined billions of times over into one being.  There would be no strength for me to stand.  I would fall to my face and my heart would sing, "Oh, love effulgent, love Divine! What debt of gratitude is mine!"

 His Spirit bears witness to me about the wonderful gift we have been given to have apostles who speak and testify in Christ's name and authority today. The sentence, "We bear testimony as His duly ordained apostles that Jesus is the Living Christ", brings peace into my heart. I can't think of a time in all human history where the world has had greater need for prophets and apostles on the earth than now.

Gethsemane 2007

In the summer of 2007 my friend, Nathan, took me and my husband with him to the Holy Land.   There, I "walked the roads of Palestine." I strolled the streets of Bethlehem, I waded in the waters of Galilee, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, gazed upon the hill of Calvary, and sang hymns in the empty tomb. Words are not sufficient to describe what an experience that was!

But, do you know where I felt the Spirit the strongest? 

Surprisingly, that overwhelming Spirit that causes your heart to leap inside your chest and heaven wash over your entire soul, was felt the most as I walked into sacrament meeting at the BYU Jerusalem Center. I felt as if I stood inside the Temple. The design of the room was unlike any other. I entered from the back of the chapel, the seats were in an steep theater style so the podium where the sacrament talks are given was down at the bottom of the room in front of me like on a stage. Behind where the podium stood, there was no solid wall, choir seats, or organ pipes like we often see. Instead, it was all glass, an open window to the world and, you could see from any point a perfect panoramic view of the Old City, Jerusalem. 

Also from where I stood in the back of the chapel, below the vertical pipes for the organ, there were pipes that looked like trumpets jetting out and facing the direction of that great city. When the organ played I looked back at these trumpets and expected to see angels on the other side, I thought of the angel Moroni who stands on all our temples proclaiming in great glory that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth! I wanted to join in and shout it with those angels!

If you want to go to a city that has almost every possible religion represented there, go to Jerusalem. The scripture that came to my mind when I thought of the countless numbers of religions in that place is Jacob 5:30 where the Lord in His vineyard sees a tree with many different kinds of fruit but none of them the right fruit the tree was supposed to bear. It was so awesome meeting people of all kinds of faith and I will forever cherish the discussions I had with them. But as I stood on that Sabbath day in the chapel of that dedicated building, and as I looked out over the Holy Land, I wanted to fall to my knees in reverence and humility for all that I have been given. I cried tears of gratitude to know that I had the fullness of the Gospel, His Priesthood and His Church.

 I testify that His Gospel, His Priesthood, is the key to unifying the nations of the earth and the tool to bringing people together of all faiths.