Week 103 Trust In God & Never Give Up

What an incredible final week it’s been. We did tons of service which I can’t express how much I love! One service project we did was helping out the Cramer family with a landscaping project in their front yard which consisted of tearing out old sod, shoveling dirt, digging small trenches for a stone pathway, moving bricks, shoveling more dirt, and laying sod. Fun thing about the Cramer’s is that Lori Cramer grew up in Auberry & her sister is Phil McCauley’s wife! We had a lot of fun talking about that. 

The Cramer’s have 2 foster children staying with them right now that are being taught, Maelyn (11) & Braeden (10). They’re such awesome kids & the Cramer’s are planning to adopt them on the 21st! They’ve been taught all the lessons and have just been waiting for adoption to finalize so they can be baptized. They also hadn’t set a date yet for their baptisms just cause they weren’t sure about the adoption. Well we showed up Friday morning to help out & Sister Cramer is like, “Did you tell the Elders about what day you wanna be baptized on?” And they both said the 24th!! That was such a huge miracle. Elder Petersen & I have been praying for them so much & that everything would go smoothly with the adoption to make the baptism possible & then we just show up & they have they’re own baptismal date picked out! 

While we were working, Braeden was like, “Aren’t you the one who talked about sports last week in church?” And I was confused and then I remembered in my talk I shared the story of Jimmy Valvano & his father so I was like oh yeah that was me haha. Well this kid is so stinkin smart!! I asked him if he remembered why I shared it and he repeated the whole story back to me and then how I tied it in to trusting in God. I was amazed!! What 10 year old pays attention in sacrament meeting to the speakers & is able to repeat back stories shared nearly a week later?! Kid is a stud!! Since that him & I have just been best buds talkin bout sports & Jesus it’s great.

Well we were able to go teach Braeden & Maelyn on Sunday & it was such an awesome lesson!! We talked about baptism & the Holy Ghost & they’re so smart, especially Braeden. He was answering every question and asking some really good questions. We went over the baptismal questions & then starting making arrangement for their baptism on the 24th. Such an exciting time for everyone! The kids have been waiting so long for this and are so exciting is finally becoming a reality. 

We did tons of service out at the Boulder County Fair & that’s been a blast! We even got to be in the parade, we were running along the side handing out flyers for the Fair, but we were in the parade haha! We’ll help out again at the Fair tomorrow & then are teaching Braeden & Maelyn that night about repentance. Beautiful way to finish out, I love it. Also Alena will be going to the temple for the first time to do baptisms for her deceased ancestors on Thursday morning w/ members from the ward! She’s so awesome!!

I will forever be grateful for my mission. It has truly changed me & will therefore change the remainder of my life. 

My testimony is this:

I love Jesus Christ. I love His Gospel & am grateful for the peace & joy which it brings into my life. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah. 

I know The Book of Mormon is a true testament of Jesus Christ & that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God. My testimony is that of Nephi of old when he said, “Hearken unto these words & believe in Christ. And if ye believe not in these words, believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words. For they are the words of Christ. And he hath given them unto me, and they teach all men that they should do good.” 

I bear my testimony of the love of I have for Our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the Savior & Redeemer of our souls.

I know that Jesus Christ suffered every pain, sin, & affliction for us in the Garden of Gethsamane. 

I know that he suffered physical death by Crucifixion on Calvary. 

And I know that He was resurrected & conquered Galgotha’s Grave. I know that He lives today. I know that His Gospel will bring peace & joy into our lives. He has the power to mend broken hearts, I have seen it first hand. If I had to sum the Gospel of Jesus Christ up into one sentence it would be, “Trust In God & Never Give Up.” 

There will be storms. There will be trials & hardships & things will not go as planned, but Trust In God. We will fall short, we will make mistakes, we will sin, we are not perfect. But I believe what the Savior asks of us, is to, “Never Give Up.” Keep repenting, keep working to become better, keep trying. Don’t take your eyes off the Savior & don’t ever throw in the towel. Keep coming back to Him, He will always accept you & embrace you. I promise & know that His “Arms of Mercy” are extended always, inviting us to come unto him. His love is infinite & eternal. I am so grateful for a perfect loving Savior who loves someone as imperfect as myself. And I know He does so because He is perfect, and his love is perfect. He is the Savior & Redeemer of my soul.

Again I say, ”Trust In God & Never Give Up.” I love Jesus Christ. I leave my witness of the One who has the power to say to the storms & to our very souls, “Peace, Be Still.” Even Our Savior & Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Riley Robert Bennett