January 21, 2014
Hello Everyone,
This past
week we did a lot of teaching and contacted several new less actives to
work with, so it was a really great week. This past weekend I received
the great news that I will be staying with Elder Wyatt in Great Falls
another 6 weeks, I am so excited about that! We have some great work
going on and so much right on the horizon!
I want to share an experience I had this week that has changed
my life. Note: I have changed the names in the story for privacy
reasons.
On Saturday night we were out contacting some referrals when
our phone rang. It was a less active member from one of the units I
serve in with a request.
He said, "My father-in-law just lost a best
friend, his friend's son is LDS and is requesting to see some LDS
people, he is struggling with the loss of his father, will you go talk
to him?"
Us: "Yes of course, We would love to go talk to him and help
him in any way that we can."
So we get the address of where this young
man is at and start heading that way, all we know is that his father
passed away recently. The drive there I am pouring my heart out to my
Heavenly Father, "Please help me know what to say to this man, help me
to feel the love that Thou has for him"
We arrive at the address, Elder Wyatt and I say a prayer
together and head up the walk to the front door. We knock and are let
into this house and invited to sit down. The young man introduces
himself, "Hello I am Jason, please sit down."
We begin to talk to Jason,
as we are talking to him I notice this poor young man has years of
sorrow, heartbreak, pain and devastation painted on to his countenance.
He proceeds to tell us that he is 16 years old, that is parents were
divorced when he was young, and he had moved 17 times. A few years ago
he went to live with his mom and new step dad who was an alcoholic. His
step dad was verbally and physically abusive, Jason always protected his
2 younger brothers, and as a result to a physical fight he had with his
step dad, his mom put him into a Boys Ranch for troubled teens for 6
months with no mail or visitors allowed in. When he got out of the boys
ranch he moved to Great Falls and lived with his dad. It was like a new
chapter in his life, this is when Jason and his dad joined the church,
life was good now as he got along with his dad, loved him and respected
him. Things seemed to be going well but then his dad's health began to
fail him and he got more and more sick. Just this last September his
father had a surgery in efforts to correct some of his health problems.
Things seemed to be improving the last few months. His father was
getting better and doing well. Friday night Jason talked to his dad
about a few things and it was the last time he spoke to him because on
Saturday morning Jason's dad committed suicide with no forewarning.
As Jason relayed all of this information to us the pain in his
eyes deepened. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I listened to this young
man, he explained that his dad doing such a thing was never once a
thought in his wildest dreams. It was a complete shock. He had relayed
all of this information to us and we sat in silence for a few moments,
the prayer still burning in my heart, "God please give me the words to
speak to this young man." Elder Wyatt had the same prayer within his
heart and our prayers were answered.
We bore testimony to Jason of the
Plan of Salvation and of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We shared with him
personal and spiritual experiences we have had in our lives, we shared
scriptures with him and prayed for him within our hearts as we spoke to
him.
A marvelous thing took place in that house as the Spirit of
the Lord ministered to Jason, I watched Jason literally change right
before my eyes! His countenance lightened and the burden he carried was
completely removed from his shoulders, the light of Christ burned within
his eyes and he began to smile and laugh as we continued to share
experiences one with another.
The love of God, the Holy Ghost and the
grace of Jesus Christ changed Jason's life in a matter of minutes. We
left Jason with a priesthood blessing that was so sacred as God spoke
directly to him. Jason came to church the next day and we are in close
contact with him and the Elders that cover the area in which he lives,
he is doing well considering the circumstances. I love Jason and would
do anything I could to help him. He is a loved son of God.
I testify with every fiber of my being that God lives, that
Jesus is the Christ, and His gospel is true. I testify that faith in
Christ brings about miracles! I testify with all the power within my
soul that faith, TRUE FAITH in Christ changes lives, I watched it happen
right in front of my eyes. I love my Savior with all of my heart, He
died for me, He died for you. He rose from the dead the third day and
left the tomb empty, He lives today and He loves you, He knows you! I
invite all that are lacking in faith to read the words of Christ in the
New Testament and in the Book of Mormon! Pray for faith, "seek and ye
shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you". Come unto Christ and
you will know true peace, true joy and true love; I promise you these
things as a representative of Jesus Christ and bear this testimony in
his name, even Christ the Lord, Amen.
- Elder Aaron John Organ
