A Fireside with Elder Uchtdorf

It's a rare occasion to be able to meet and speak and listen to one of the twelve apostles. Last Sunday afternoon at church my wife and I found out that Elder Uchtdorf was coming to the Buckeye Stake to give a fireside that night.

We were amazed to say the least. So we quickly went to work and arranged care for the little ones, Missi, Erica's sister gladly volunteered to watch the kids while we went.

We went ahead and picked up a friend of ours and headed out. Luckily it was pretty early, as we were told the incorrect building, it seems that due to this being planned on such a short notice it wasn't clear what building Elder Uchtdorf was going to be speaking at. After several phone calls and a lot of driving around we found the building.

As you could imagine the place was packed, I was a little disappointed when we had to go to the overflow room, but still very happy to be able to hear an apostle speak. While waiting for the talk he walked into the room, his wife commented about our babies and he told us that he was pleased to be speaking to our group.

His talk was a powerful testimony of the universality and truth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Book of Mormon. He described his experiences around the world, people call our faith an American religion, he told us that he always counters that with the fact that the Gospel could have been restored in any country where there was true freedom of religion. America was the only place in the world at the time with the right conditions for the restoration of the Gospel. The Lord used Joseph Smith to restore the Gospel, only in America could the church have survived at the time. Now the Lord has seen fit to open doors throughout the world to our missionaries and more members of the church live throughout the world then they do in the United States, the church currently has almost 13 Million members around the world.

He then gave us an Apostolic blessing he blessed us that our "concerns" need not worry us if we are righteous, I took that as we can overcome our worldly concerns if we follow all of the commandments, the Lord will lighten our load.

I want to bear personal and direct witness that I felt the influence of the Lord, through the power of the Holy Ghost while Elder Uchtdorf was speaking of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel. A simple experience can change a life. I ask whoever reads this to pickup a copy of the Book of Mormon, read it with pure intent and pray to know if it is true. I assure you that your time will not be wasted and you will receive a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Restoration.

You can find out more here: http://www.mormon.org/