Aloha!
I am Sister Amos and I am so blessed to be with you today accompanying my husband, Elder Amos at this BYU–Hawaii devotional.
I am the youngest of ten children born and raised on a farm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
My earliest memory of my dad, Dunk Wright, was riding into town with him to pay the bills.
I was about five years old, and I would stand on the hump of the car and hold on to the two front seats. This way, I could see the city through the car’s front windshield. My dad was a carpenter, and he would point out all the buildings he helped construct.
My dad was also a Baptist Deacon. Our family went to church every Sunday.
I went early to church with my dad to set up Sunday School and Communion. I remember placing fans on the benches or watch as my dad prepared the crackers and grape juice for communion, what we call sacrament.
When I was 12 years old, me and my older siblings decided to find another church to help us better live the teaching of Jesus Christ as we understood in the Bible. We became like the Wise Men at the Savior’s Birth, seeking for Christ.
My mother, Dorothy, is the oldest of twelve children. My mother’s sister, Katherine Warren, we call her Aunt Rene, was the first member of our family to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and was baptized on Christmas Day 1976. [1]
Aunt Rene shared the gospel with our family by holding a Family Bible Study. [2] She would travel from New Orleans to Baton Rouge often to hold Bible Study with her 11 siblings and their children, all at my mom’s house in Baton Rouge under a huge oak tree. Aunt Rene would teach us the gospel of Jesus Christ using the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Aunt Rene was guided by the Lord on how to teach us. She was shown in a vision that some members of her family would be baptized.
As a result of her teachings and lessons with the missionaries, 13 members of my family were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on January 21, 1979. We found Christ! It was a large baptism in the South and Church News recorded it. [3]
I was one of the 13. My dad was not ready for baptism at this time. The missionaries were still teaching him because he was not ready to let go of his family’s traditions. He was born a Baptist and he said he’d die a Baptist. Our mother said, “I’m going to wait for your dad.” So, she was not baptized with her children.
Well, my dad, died at the age of 98. He was buried fully clothed in the garment of the holy priesthood and his sacred temple clothing. He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, May 31, 1979. He promised my mother he would marry her in the Temple. They were married and sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple June 7, 1983.
My dad struggled with accepting the Book of Mormon because he had been taught all his life, that the Bible was the only true word of God.
As he continued to read the Book of Mormon for himself, through the power of the Holy Ghost, he came to know the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ.
Moroni teaches us the promise and power of the Book of Mormon.
In Moroni 10:4-5 we read,
"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." [4]
Because my dad continued to pray and study the Book of Mormon, the power of God strengthened him to overcome his family traditions and other personal challenges that held him bound from accepting the restored gospel.
In the Restoration Proclamation,
The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles state concerning the Book of Mormon
“…Pages of this sacred text include an account of the personal ministry of Jesus Christ among people in the Western Hemisphere soon after His Resurrection. It teaches of life’s purpose and explains the doctrine of Christ, which is central to that purpose. As a companion scripture to the Bible, the Book of Mormon testifies that all human beings are sons and daughters of a loving Father in Heaven, that He has a divine plan for our lives, and that His Son, Jesus Christ, speaks today as well as in days of old.” [5]
The Book of Mormon testifies repeatedly that Jesus is the Christ and that salvation and exaltation come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent. [6] No other way.
I stand as a witness today of the truthfulness and power of the Book of Mormon. The words of God contained in this book helped change my dad from a Baptist Deacon to a Melchizedek priesthood holder. It changed my family and my life personally for good. I enjoy the blessing of increased faith in Jesus Christ, peace from repentance, guidance from the power of the Holy Ghost and hope of eternal life with my family all because of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ that began with Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Mormon.
Are you a seeker of Jesus Christ?
I invite us all to read and reread the Book of Mormon personally and with our families. I promise, if we do so, we will draw nearer to God, we will have divine power to overcome the trials and temptations of this world and we will stand as covenant keepers to receive the Lord at his second coming.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] Saints Volume 4, Chapters 17, 289, [Oral History Interview, 6,15], Church History Library, Salt Lake City
[2] Saints Volume 4, Chapters 19, 322, Church History Library, Salt Lake City
[3] Saints Volume 4, Chapter 19, 323 (Courtesy Church News), Church History Library, Salt Lake City
[4] Moroni 10:4-5
[5] “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World”, Gospel Library
[6] Mosiah 3:17